[Photo: Getty images]
Home hero Cameron Smith took the Australian PGA Championship by the scruff of the neck with a blistering second round in Brisbane that set up a final-round showdown with former Smith scholarship winner Elvis Smylie and LIV Golf teammate Marc Leishman.
Smith rattled off seven birdies and a lone bogey during a 65 at Royal Queensland Golf Club that sent him to 10-under-par. It also pulled the Australian PGA out of the mud which had wreaked havoc on the event.
The PGA, the opening event of the DP World Tour’s 2024/2025 season, had been drenched by 250mm of rain over seven days that forced organisers to abandon a full day’s play on Friday and shorten the tournament to 54 holes. The Saturday sun and Smith’s brilliant play turned the Australian PGA Championship’s fortune’s around.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Smith said of the event’s turnaround in luck. “(The sun) always puts a smile on your face and the golf was pretty good (too). I started solid and kept it going.”
A highlight for Smith was hitting it to close range and tapping in for birdie at the beautiful, short par-3 17th where grandstands were erected for 5,000 fans and dubbed a “party hole”.
The sublimely talented Smylie, 22, posted a 67 to join Smith at 10-under. Smith’s Ripper GC teammate on LIV Golf, Marc Leishman, shot 66 and at nine-under he will join Smylie and Smith in the final group. South African-born, Perth-raised Aldrich Potgieter and David Micheluzzi (both 67) finished eight-under.
Leishman chuckled when reminded that he played in the final group with Smith at the 2018 Australian PGA, where Smith won by two shots. “I’m ready for it; they love Cam and hopefully we can both play well,” Leishman said.
Five years ago, Smylie, a left-hander from the Gold Coast, won the annual Cam Smith Scholarship for Australian juniors and travelled to Smith’s US home in Ponte Vedra beach, Florida to learn from and train with Smith.
“[I learned] what life is like being one of the best golfers in the world and what he goes through on a day-to-day basis and picking his brain [was invaluable],” Smylie said. “What he’s done for Australian golf … he’s been a great role model of mine.”
Smylie is third on the Australasian tour’s order of merit after winning the Western Australian Open last month. He expects Smith to be business-like while Smylie himself will be focussed on trying to secure the biggest win of his career. “(I’m sure) there will be casual (chat) but he’s wanting to beat me as much as I’m wanting to beat him,” he said.
Smith is determined to grab a first official victory of 2024 while can also become just the fifth golfer in 95-year history of the Australian PGA to win the Joe Kirkwood Cup at least four times. “It’d be nice; this is kind of my home event,” Smith said. “I have a lot of good family and friends cheering me on. But you still have to go out and do it and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
