Cameron Smith and his LIV Golf teammate Marc Leishman have made hay when the sun finally shone in Brisbane to set up another Australian PGA Championship shootout.
But first-round leader Elvis Smylie never left the building to ensure it won’t be a two-man show at Royal Queensland on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Gold Coast talent and son of former tennis great Liz bogeyed his first hole and could only watch as Smith and South African prodigy Aldrich Potgieter surged past him.
But the left-hander rallied to close with three birdies on his final five holes, including the last behind a laser-like approach, to draw level with three-time event winner Smith (65) at 10 under thanks to a 67 on Saturday.
Leishman (66), second in this event to his great mate Smith in a 2018 shootout, was a stroke back as he eyes his first piece of Australian silverware after rain reduced the event to 54 holes.
Those three will play in Sunday’s final group, Smith’s slices of luck in their 2018 duel at Gold Coast’s Royal Pines still a sore point over a beer six years on.
“We’ve had a few goes around here,” Leishman said of his battles with Smith.
“I’m ready for it. I know what it’s going to be like.
“They (the crowd) love Cam and hopefully we can both play well and next week I can give a bit of it back to him in Melbourne (at the Australian Open).”
Big-hitting 20-year-old Potgieter (67) was the early leader thanks to four birdies on his first five holes.
But he missed a par putt on the last and was two over on the back nine to finish eight under alongside Australia’s European tour rookie David Micheluzzi (67).
“I didn’t think he was going to run away with it … but you don’t want to make a mistake,” Smith, who birdied three of his first four holes, said of the South African’s early movement.
Smith left last year’s event in tears after missing the cut and returned keen to make amends, playing the Queensland PGA and NSW Open in the lead-up.
“It’s a really cool environment which is probably why I play so well, but you’ve got to go out and do it,” he said.
Jason Day was steady but lamented a poor day with his trusty putter, the returning former world No.1 six under and needing something special in his first Australian appearance in seven years.
Defending champion Min Woo Lee couldn’t find his groove, well back at two under and just surviving the cut after bogies on his final two holes.
Torrential rain meant there was no play on Friday, officials reducing the event to a three-day shootout to mirror the format played on Smith and Leishman’s LIV Tour.
Smylie, whose maiden pro win came at the recent WA Open, stayed busy on the day off though and fancies his chances of denying Smith another hometown title.
“For me to be able to get my first win a couple of weeks back … I just feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin knowing that I can hit the shots required coming down the stretch on Sunday,” he said.
Leishman went the lowest in Brisbane on Sunday last year and again looms as a threat after what he’s described as his most enjoyable year.
Both he and Smith threatened the pin on the 17th party hole, where a promotional $1 million prize for fans for any ace during the broadcast window went begging.
“If you do anything every day you … not get sick of it but it gets, I don’t want to use the wrong word, but stale or old or whatever you want to say,” he said of his reduced schedule.
Jannik De Bruyn staged a remarkable mid-tournament recovery, his eight-under 63 on Saturday unmatched after a four-over first round had the German in strife.
