Only bad weather in Brisbane could prevent Sebastian Garcia from building a further lead at the Australian PGA Championship after the local star hit all his shots in the first round.
The in-form Spaniard pushed his famous golfing surname into the top spot on Thursday, with Garcia at 7-under through 15 holes and a three-shot lead before the referee blew the horn of an approaching thunderstorm.
Spectators were asked to leave the venue and play was unlikely to continue as rain damaged the riverside layout.
Garcia is coming off a win in China and has two other top-five finishes in his past five starts.
With two par 5s remaining in the round, he could face a lower score when he resumes the round, although an 8-under 63 using the course-recorded preferred lie was no longer in play.
New Zealand gunman Ryan Fox, China’s Wenyi Ding, Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen and star caddy Steve Williams’ Anthony Quayle were all tied for the lead earlier at 4 under (67).
Adam Scott and Lee Min-woo, who had bogeys on the last card, recovered one stroke after shooting 68.
Three-time champion Cameron Smith holed a long birdie putt on the final hole to join defending champion Elvis Smiley at two under.
Marc Leishman and Cam Davis were among the many players in the afternoon session who found themselves in trouble at two under par with a few holes to play.
There were two more aces, as Kazuma Kobori wedged in on the 17th bonus hole, followed by Daniel Gale’s effort on the 11th hole that won him a BMW worth nearly $300,000.
Earlier, Smith revealed his ongoing efforts to rediscover his bunt game.
Three-time champion Smith, a former world number two and a major champion without a title in more than two years, woke up at 2.45am on Thursday to shoot a 2-under 69 to start the $2.5 million event.
Smith’s elite putting and chipping shined when he won the British Open in 2022, but the Queenslander – the only player to miss out on all four majors cuts this year – has been searching for that magic ever since.
On Thursday, he had 10 putts for a total of 26 and feels the hard work he has put in since returning to Brisbane may be paying off.
“I hit a lot of good putts from six to eight feet, but didn’t hit any other putts all day, so it was nice to see that one,” he said of the birdie on the ninth hole.
“I had a day off and didn’t hit a lot of golf. I was doing a lot of chipping and putting and trying to get back to that part of my game and feel good about it and it really showed today.”
Lee had some bad luck approaching the final hole and hit the pin, forcing him to settle for par.
Former world number one Scott, a two-time winner of the event before moving back to Royal Queensland in Brisbane five years ago, bogeyed the first and 18th holes.
Lee, who won in 2023, lamented “that’s a good question” as his pinpoint approach hit the flag, while Scott said his steady approach will be the mode of operation ahead of the weekend.
“It’s a tough course, lots and lots of putts, unless you keep making it close,” Scott, who is chasing his first 72-hole victory since February 2020, said of his boyhood club.
“Once you start moving away from the hole, the grain changes, it breaks, there’s a lot of movement.
“The important thing is not to get frustrated.”
