Only Brisbane’s wild weather could stop Sebastian Garcia from storming further clear at the Australian PGA Championship after the local stars all fired opening-round shots.
The in-form Spaniard thrust his famous golfing surname to the top of the pack on Thursday, Garcia 7-under through 15 holes and three clear before officials blew the horn with electrical storms approaching.
Patrons were asked to leave the venue with no further play likely as rain battered the riverside layout.
Garcia arrived fresh off a victory in China alongside two other top-five finishes in his last five starts.
With two par-fives remaining in his round, a lower score threatens when he does resume his round, although with preferred lies in use, the course record, 8-under 63, is off the table.
New Zealand gun Ryan Fox, China’s Wenyi Ding, Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and Anthony Quayle, who had star caddie Steve Williams on his bag, had earlier shared the clubhouse lead at 4-under (67).
Drawcards Adam Scott, who bogeyed the last, and Min Woo Lee were a shot back after carding rounds of 68.
Min Woo Lee put himself in contention with a 3-under opening round of 68 at the Australian PGA in Brisbane. (AAP: Jason O’Brien)
Three-time winner Cameron Smith made a long birdie putt on his last hole to finish two-under, along with defending champion Elvis Smylie.
Marc Leishman and Cam Davis were among a host of afternoon players stranded at 2-under with holes to play.
There were two aces as well, Kazumu Kobori’s wedge into the 17th party hole on the money before Daniel Gale won a car worth nearly $300,000 with his effort on the 11th.
Earlier, Smith revealed the relentless work he has undergone in an attempt to rediscover his short game.
Three-time champion Smith, a former world number two and major winner without a title in more than two years, woke at 2:45am for his Thursday round and carded a 2-under 69 to begin the $2.5 million event.
Smith’s sensational putting and chipping shone when he roared home to win the Open in 2022, but the Queenslander — 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 the hard work he had put in since returning home to Brisbane might be paying off.
“I made a lot of good putts from six to eight feet but didn’t make anything outside of that all day, so it was good to see that go in,” he said of his birdie on the ninth.
“I’ve had one day off, and I haven’t hit a lot of balls. I’ve been doing a lot of chipping and putting, trying to get back into that part of my game, getting comfortable with that, and it definitely showed today.”
Lee’s approach to the final hole hit the flagstick in a rough slice of luck, forcing him to settle for par.
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Former world number one Scott, a two-time winner of the event before the move back to Brisbane’s Royal Queensland five years ago, bogeyed his first and 18th holes.
Lee, who won in 2023, lamented “a good problem” to have when his pinpoint approach hit the flag, while Scott indicated his steady approach would be the mode of operation ahead of the weekend.
“It’s a tough course to make lots and lots of putts on unless you’re putting it close all the time,” Scott, chasing his first 72-hole win since February 2020, said of his boyhood club.
“Once you start getting away from the hole, the grain changes, it breaks, there’s a lot of movement.
“It’s important not to get frustrated.”
AAP
