BRISBANE, Australia — Australian Elvis Smylie shot a 4-under 67 to win the 54-hole Australian PGA on Sunday by two pictures after a final-round shootout along with his compatriot and former mentor Cameron Smith.
Smylie completed on 14-under 199, two forward of Smith who had a 2-under last spherical 69. Smith’s LIV tour teammate Mark Leishman and Australian Athony Quayle shared third place on 11 below on the par-71 Royal Queensland.
Heavy rain showers and an unplayable course on Friday pressured the second spherical to be deserted and made the joint Australasian PGA and European Tour occasion a 54-hole event.
5 years in the past Smylie, the son of former Australian tennis professional Liz Smylie. received the Cameron Smith Scholarship which allowed him to spend per week at Smith’s Florida dwelling the place he was capable of be taught to stay and apply as a PGA Tour skilled.
Now 22, Smylie began Sunday’s last spherical tied atop the leaderboard with Smith at 10 below par.
Smith was the 2022 British Open winner at St. Andrews and beforehand received the Australian PGA in 2017, 2018 and 2022.
The pair traded birdies till the sixth gap when there was a two-shot turnaround when Smylie birdied and Smith bogeyed. Smylie, who led after a primary spherical 65, had 4 birdies in his first seven holes and performed his outward 9 in four-under 32, turning at 14 below.
He had good ups and downs below strain on the par 4 tenth and twelfth holes, utilizing his three wooden to bunt the ball onto the greens from shut vary.
With a bogey on the ninth gap, Smith turned in 35, having dropped again right into a second place tie at 11-under with Quayle, Mark Leishman and Australia David Micheluzzi.
Smith had one other bogey on the par-4 14th which dropped him again to 10 below whereas Quayle completed with an 8-under 63 to take an early clubhouse lead at 11-under.
Smylie was below strain on the par-5 fifteenth when he hit his second effectively to the left of the inexperienced. Once more he scrambled to avoid wasting par whereas Smith birdied to maneuver again to 11-under, reducing the result in three pictures.
Smith trimmed Smylie’s result in two when he holed out from off the inexperienced for birdie on the par-3 seventeenth, profitable a big cheer from the group on the event’s social gathering gap. Smylie’s birdie putt from six toes slipped previous.
Smylie held his nerve when he put his tee shot on the 18th into gentle tough with the broad trunk of a tree between him and the inexperienced 186 meters away. He curled his across the tree, however right into a greenside bunker.
Smylie performed a nerveless shot from the sand to a few toes and holed out for par, ending with 11 consecutive pars. He managed to stand up and down from precarious positions six occasions on the again 9.
“It is a dream come true,” Smylie stated. “I will not neglect this present day taking part in with Cam and [Leishman].
“My quick recreation was nice; I undoubtedly saved myself.”
The Australian PGA is the primary occasion of the 2025 European Tour season.
Subsequent week, most of the identical gamers will journey to Melbourne for the Australian Open, additionally on the European Tour. It’s being performed concurrently with the Ladies’s Australian Open at famed sandbelt programs Kingston Heath and Victoria.
