Some light-hearted ribbing from a few old schoolmates proved to be Cameron Smith’s biggest obstacle on Friday as he tore up Royal Queensland to zoom into Australian PGA favouritism.
While playing partners Adam Scott (72) and Ryan Fox (74) struggled in the marquee group, Smith shot 65 to move to nine-under and just a stroke behind tournament leader Jason Scrivener, who added a 67 to his first-round 65.
Kiwi star Fox missed the cut, while Scott, who sits at four-under overall, has some weekend work ahead of him if he wants to lift the Kirkwood Cup for a third time.
“I’m going to have to really shoot the lights out on the weekend and play good, which I know I can,” Scott said.
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Smith, who birdied the 18th to ensure he would be in Saturday’s final group with Scrivener, can also “play good” and will be hard to stop as he also bids for a third Australian PGA title.
“I knew that putt (on the 18th) would probably get me into the final group, so that’s a good one,” the reigning British Open champion said.
“I love playing in those final groups.”
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Friday could have been even better for Smith had he not three-putted and bogeyed the 17th, the “party hole” where some of his old school friends were situated.
“They were yelling at me on 17 so that’s why I was having a little bit of a chuckle to myself,” he said.
“I’m sure they were giving me s*** about missing that second putt as well … (but) it was really good energy out there.
“Golf should be more like that. That’s what we need.”
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While Smith will dominate the weekend headlines, Scrivener can’t be discounted as he seeks to end a five-year drought.
The 33-year-old Perth-raised player, whose only professional win was the November 2017 NSW Open, warned his rivals there was weekend improvement in him.
“(Thursday) I was pretty stress free and I hit the ball from tee to green really well,” Scrivener said.
“Today it was a little scrappier. I got away with a few things and scrapped well.
“I’ll just do what I’ve done the last two days. You’ve got to be pretty patient out there; pick your places to be aggressive and then other times you’ve got to be pretty conservative.
“I’ll stick to the same plan.”
Two players – Japan’s Masahiro Kawamura (68, 66) and Victoria’s Cameron John (69, 65) – are two shots adrift at eight-under.
Five players – including Polish star Adrian Meronk, who shot a second-round 67 to go with his 68 on Thursday – are well-placed at seven-under heading into the weekend.
Meanwhile, Jed Morgan’s tournament defence has come to an end after missed the cut with a two-round, two-over total of 144.
Lucas Herbert also won’t play on the weekend after he withdrew during the second round with a back injury. It’s not expected that the injury will rule him out of next week’s Australian Open.
ROUND ONE
Hopes of an Australian PGA Sunday showdown between Cam Smith and Adam Scott are on target after the star pair opened the tournament with impressive rounds at Royal Queensland.
Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, was the early clubhouse leader after shooting a five-under par 66, while Smith, the reigning British Open champion, was two shots back after a first-round 68.
However, by late afternoon, Scott had been upstaged by fellow Australians Min Woo Lee, Jason Scrivener and John Lyras, who led the tournament at six-under after brilliant rounds of 65.
“It was awesome,” Lee said.
“(It was) very solid. There was one mistake, a bad drive on (hole) 10, but other than it was a very solid day approach-wise, and off the tee, and a very good day on the greens, so if I can do that for the next few days, it’ll be very nice.”
Earlier, teeing off at 6am Queensland time in a marquee group that included New Zealand star Ryan Fox (one-over 72), Scott and Smith were pleasantly surprised with the thousands of fans who didn’t let the early start deter them from seeing their heroes live in action.
“It was great,” Scott said/.
“It was incredibly early, but as we were walking out to the tee people were streaming out to the golf course and so they should.
“It’s great to see everyone coming out. It’s exciting that Cam’s coming home to play off the back of the year that he’s had.
“We had a strong group. ‘Foxy’ as well has played great.”
Scott described himself as the group’s “third wheel” but he was the star of the show on Thursday with a round that included seven birdies and two bogeys.
“The conditions couldn’t be better and you want to take advantage of those morning rounds,” he said.
“Overall there was some good solid play from me today.”
Smith started slowly. Teeing off on the 10th, he was one over after nine holes, before snaring three birdies over his final nine holes.
“I definitely felt a little bit tired this morning – the brain was a little bit foggy,” the world No.3 said.
“I found it hard to really concentrate out there and commit to shots … but it came around the back nine and finished well.
“I did what I had to do. ‘Scotty’ was playing really nice. He’s coming into some form, the ‘old fella” so he might be hard to chase down over the weekend.”
Joining Scott at five-under were Brad Kennedy. Anthony Quayle, Peter Cooke and South Korea’s Jeung-hun Wang, while a shot further back at four-under were Queenslander Maverick Antcliff, China’s Yan Wei Liu, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, France’s Pierre Pineau and New Zealand’s Denzel Ieremia.
“I don’t particularly love the golf course – it doesn’t really suit my eye,” said Antcliff, whose round included an eagle on the 545 par-five seventh.
“It’s in great condition though, but I’ve been playing well for a while. I just haven’t really been putting that well.
“I’ve been putting in a lot of hard work, so I’m not really surprised.”
Reigning tournament champion Jed Morgan, playing in the group behind Scott and Smith, opened up his title defence with a one-under 70.