Only Brisbane’s blustery weather could halt Sebastian Garcia’s further advances at the Australian PGA Championship, where all the local stars hit their shots in the opening round.
The in-form Spaniard pushed golf’s famous surname on Thursday as Garcia finished 15 holes at 7 under and holed out in three holes, prompting officials to sound the horn as thunderstorms approached.
As rain battered the riverside layout, patrons were asked to leave the venue as they were unlikely to be able to play any further.
Garcia is fresh off a win in China and two other top-five finishes in his last five starts.
There are two par 5s remaining in the round, and restarting the round could potentially lower his score, but an 8-under 63 is impossible with the course-record preferred lie.
With New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, China’s Wen-Yi Ding, Finland’s Tapio Pulkanen and star caddie Steve Williams behind him, Anthony Quayle previously shared the clubhouse lead at four under (67).
Adam Scott and Lee Min-woo, the draw cards who made bogey at the end, were just one stroke behind after a round of 68.
Three-time champion Cameron Smith made a long birdie putt on the final hole to finish tied with defending champion Elvis Smiley at 2 under.
Marc Leishman and Cam Davis were among the many players on the afternoon who were stuck at 2 under with holes left.
There were also two aces, with Kazuma Kobori hitting a wedge on the prize-winning 17th hole, and Daniel Gale winning a BMW worth nearly $300,000 for his efforts on the 11th.
Smith has previously revealed that he has been working tirelessly to rediscover his short game.
Smith, a three-time champion, former world No. 2 and major winner without a title in more than two years, woke up at 2:45 a.m. for Thursday’s round and started the $2.5 million event with a 2-under 69.
Smith’s sensational putting and chipping shined as he roared to victory at the 2022 British Open, but the Queenslander is the only player to miss all four major cuts this year and has been searching for that magic ever since.
On Thursday, he made 10 one-putts for a total of 26 and thought his hard work since returning to Brisbane might be paying off.
“I made a lot of good putts from 6 to 8 feet, but I just couldn’t make anything else all day, so it was nice to see it go in,” he said of the birdie on No. 9.
“I had a day off, so I wasn’t hitting the ball that much. I chipped and putted a lot and tried to get back to that part of my game and got used to it. And it definitely showed today.”
Lee had an unlucky approach to the final hole that hit the flagstick and was forced to settle for par.
Former world No. 1 Scott, who won the tournament twice before returning to Brisbane’s Royal Queensland five years ago, bogeyed the first and 18th holes.
2023 winner Lee lamented his pinpoint approach hitting the flag as a “good problem”, while Scott suggested a steady approach would be the mode of operation heading into the weekend.
Scott, who is aiming for his first 72-hole win since February 2020, said of his boyhood club, “It’s a difficult course to make a lot of putts unless you’re always close to the golf course.”
“As you start to move away from the hole, the particles change, break up, and there’s a lot of movement.
“It’s important not to get irritated.”
