Heavy rain has forced organizers to cut the BMW Australian PGA Championship to just 54 holes after Friday’s entire round was washed out at Royal Queensland.
The course was already soaked from 8 inches of rain earlier this week. Another inch overnight Thursday, followed by more downpours Friday morning, left the fairways unplayable.
Officials waited five hours past the scheduled tee time before making the tough call.
Elvis Smylie, a 22-year-old Aussie and son of former tennis star Liz Smylie, sits atop the leaderboard after shooting a fantastic 6-under 65 in Thursday’s opening round.
He’s got some serious competition breathing down his neck. Four players are just one shot behind at 5-under: France’s Victor Perez, Australia’s Matias Sanchez, Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, and Chile’s Cristobal Del Solar, who caught fire late with birdies on four of his final five holes.
The home crowd’s favorites aren’t far off either. Cameron Smith and Jason Day – both major champions – posted solid 67s to stay within two shots of the lead.
Day’s appearance has created quite a buzz – it’s his first tournament back home in seven years.
Min Woo Lee, last year’s champion here at Royal Queensland, opened with a 68. He spent Thursday playing alongside Smith and Day in what was probably the day’s most-watched group.
The tournament’s timing is pretty interesting – it’s actually the first event of the 2025 European tour season, even though we’re still in 2023.
Queensland’s early sunsets aren’t helping the situation. The state doesn’t use daylight savings time, meaning play has to wrap up by around 6:30 p.m.
The good news? The weather’s supposed to clear up for the weekend.
After this wraps up, many players will head south to Melbourne for the Australian Open. That tournament’s doing something unique – running the men’s and women’s championships together at two famous Sandbelt courses, Kingston Heath and Victoria.
