[Photo: Josh Woning/PGA of Australia]
Elvis Smylie said he would never forget the day he held off superstars Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman in the final group to win the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland. He’ll take that inspiration onto the DP World Tour now he has a card and a $323,000 winner’s cheque to fuel his quest in Europe.
The left-hander held his nerve after pulling his tee shot on the final hole to make par and shoot a 67. At 14-under-par, he clung to a two-shot victory over Smith (69) at the opening event of the DP World Tour’s 2025 season. Gold Coast native Anthony Quayle came from the clouds with an equal tournament-low 63 to finish T-3 at 11-under with Smith’s LIV Golf teammate Leishman. Former world No. 1 Jason Day was T-8 at eight-under in his first competitive appearance in Australia in seven years.
It is the biggest win of 22-year-old Smylie’s career and he breaking through for his first professional win at last month’s WA Open. “It’s a dream come true… I won’t forget this day playing with Cam and Leish,” Smylie said. “My short game was great; I definitely saved myself.”
Because of torrential rain, the $2 million tournament was shortened to 54 holes. Smylie led outright after the first round and he shared the second-round lead at 10-under with Smith.
Smylie and Smith both made birdies to begin their rounds before Smith stumbled with three front-nine bogeys. He dropped another shot at the 14th. “I think it would have been a different story if (I hadn’t) had three bogeys on the front nine which really cost me,” Smith said. “For two of them to be three-putts (that followed) very decent shots into those greens pisses me off more than anything else.”
Smylie put the foot down with four front nine birdies and several gutsy par saves among 11 straight to enjoy a bogey-free round. Smith tried to make it interesting by chipping in for birdie at the party hole, par-3 17th to come within two shots. Moments later, Smylie hooked his tee shot on 18 and it settled directly behind a tree. He roped a hooking iron shot into a greenside bunker and made a gutsy par save to win.
Playing in the final group with Leishman and Smith was the experience of a lifetime for Smylie. He stared down his mentor, Smith, the 2022 Open champion and three-time Australian PGA winner. In 2019, Smylie was one of the recipients of the Cam Smith Scholarship and received an all-expenses-paid trip to the US to spend a week learning from the then-PGA Tour star and how he practices and prepares.
“Helping Elvis out along the way is really cool but he had such a great round,” Smith said Sunday night. “He putted unbelievable. He’s on a really good track (in his career). It’s a long way to come from being a junior golfer to a professional he keeps making the right steps. You could tell that week (in 2019) that he was a hard worker and it’s a really good trait to have. He should enjoy this win but also keep working really hard because he’s got a really (high ceiling).”
Smylie secured almost two years’ worth of status on the DP World Tour, which continues at this week’s co-sanctioned Australian Open in Melbourne at Kingston Heath and Victoria GC. The DP World Tour is also a pathway to the PGA Tour via a program that awards the top 10 players status in the US at the end of each European season.
“It’s life changing for me, and I can’t wait to get started,” Smylie said. “Plans for the next few weeks have changed compared to this morning.”
