Sebastian García leads the Australian PGA Championship, interrupted by storms
Spanish Sebastián García was in a dominant position at the Australian PGA Championship, but the Brisbane weather forced a halt to play.
García, with an outstanding performance, was at seven under par after 15 holes, with a three-stroke lead over his competitors. However, approaching thunderstorms forced officials to suspend the day, asking spectators to leave the course.García arrived at the tournament after a victory in China and two top-five finishes in his last five participations.
With two par-5s to play, García could have improved his score even more when play resumed, although the course record, a 63 under par, was not in play due to the rules of play.
Ryan Fox from New Zealand, Wenyi Ding from China, Tapio Pulkkanen from Finland, and Anthony Quayle, who had Steve Williams as a caddie, shared the lead at the club with four under par (67).
Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee were one stroke behind, after signing rounds of 68.
Cameron Smith, a three-time winner, birdied his final hole to finish two-under par, as did defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Marc Leishman and Cam Davis were among the afternoon players who were stranded at two under par with holes to play.
There were also two holes-in-one, Kazuma Kobori with his shot on the 17th hole and Daniel Gale, who won a BMW valued at almost $300,000 with his effort on the 11th hole.
Smith revealed the exhaustive work he has done to rediscover his short game.
Smith, a former world No. 2 and a major winner without a title in more than two years, woke up at 2:45 in the morning for his Thursday round and signed a 69 under par to start the $2.5 million event.
Smith’s sensational putting and chipping ability shone when he won the Open in 2022, but the Queensland player, the only player to miss all four major cuts this year, has been searching for that magic ever since.
On Thursday he made 10 one-putts and 26 in total and thought that the hard work he had done since returning home to Brisbane might be paying off.
I made a lot of good six-to-eight-foot putts, but I didn’t make anything else other than that all day, so it was good to see that one go in,” he said about his birdie on the ninth hole.
Cameron Smith
Lee lamented “a good problem” when his approach to the final hole hit the flagstick, forcing him to settle for par.
Scott, a two-time winner of the event before the move to Royal Queensland in Brisbane five years ago, bogeyed his holes 1 and 18.
Scott indicated that his constant focus would be the mode of operation for the weekend.
It’s a tough field to make a lot of putts unless you’re putting them close all the time,” Scott said of his childhood club.
