Cameron Smith endured another hometown horror show as the three-time Australian PGA champion took a serious slump, shooting a 4-over 75 to miss his seventh consecutive cut.
The local hopeful started Friday’s match at two under par on his projected cut line and saw birdies early but twice dropped the ball in the cup.
After bogeying the 11th hole, Smith watched his par putts slip by on the 13th and 14th holes at Royal Queensland Golf Club in tragic scenes.
He gave people a glimmer of hope with an 8-foot birdie on the 17th hole, but then missed the 18th green and made a three-putt double bogey that sealed his fate.
He finished two strokes over and moved a commanding lead on the leaderboard, which includes early club leader Brett Rankin, Kazuma Kobori, Wenyi Ding and Anthony Quayle, all of whom have at least one hole to play at 9 under.
Rankin shot 7 under through 18 holes and took the clubhouse lead at 9 under despite a double bogey on the penultimate hole.
He was later joined by 2023 champion Min Woo Lee, who had six birdies before a final bogey left him one shot behind.
Cameron Davis, Daniel Hillier, Marc Leishman and Marco Penge (7-under) all lead the crowded leaderboard, while Ryan Fox dropped three shots in the closing seconds to sit in first place at 5-under.
Adam Scott (6-under) lurked with a long birdie putt on No. 17 and defending champion Elvis Smiley (2-under) rallied to advance, but European sweepstakes Joaquin Niemann (even-par) and Rasmus Nergaard-Petersen (5-over) both struggled.
Smith, who endured one of the worst days of his career and missed the cut for the 2023 Royal Queensland Championship, was in tears after shooting a 7-over 78 on Friday.
But he returned last year and finished runner-up, only to lose in the play-offs at the Saudi International shortly afterwards.
That form has overshadowed him, with the former world number two and 2022 Open champion the only player to miss the cut at all four Grand Slams this year.
He then struggled in his next two matches and will arrive in Melbourne for next week’s Australian Open after two-and-a-half years without a win.
Partner Lee, who broke through to the PGA Tour title for the first time this year, was unaffected by the carnage as he regularly took the ball, while Davis showed no signs of rust in his first start since his early exit from the PGA Tour in August.
Leishman came to life earlier in the day, chipping in for eagle from the seventh bunker and then teeing off from the fairway for birdie in a thrilling three-hole sequence to end his round.
The 42-year-old former Gregg Medalist has never won a major Australian event but has promised to pursue the title boldly.
“We’re golfers and entertainers, and I really enjoy entertaining, whether it’s teeing off the deck or a cool spinner bunker shot,” Leishman said.
“Playing like at home – not careless hitting, just fun hitting and hitting the ball in different ways.
“I’ve been fighting and trying to embrace it … to achieve goals that a lot of other people can’t.”
