‘Guy to beat’: Smylie embraces PGA title defence

Defending champion Elvis Smylie will relish being the “guy to beat” at this week’s Australian PGA rather than be intimidated by a world-class field that will assemble at Royal Queensland.

Smylie’s life changed 12 months ago when he won the PGA crown at the same course by two shots from fellow Queenslander and 2022 British Open winner Cam Smith.

This year’s strong field will again include Smith, as well as Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Marc Leishman, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz, Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and Spaniard Josele Ballester, as well as Englishman Marco Penge and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who have both recently secured PGA Tour cards after stellar 2025 DP World Tour campaigns.

However, Smylie won’t fear anyone when the tournament starts on Thursday.

“It’s cool embracing that and understanding that I’m one of the guys to chase now,” the 23-year-old left-hander said.

“I get a real kick out of that, and that’s what keeps me striving to work hard and do the right things with the people that I have around me.

“I can’t get complacent with defending the title and just slacking off. I want to go out and prove that I’m the guy to beat.

“I’m smiling now as I say that because it’s something that I truly believe, and I think of it more as a privilege to feel this way, rather than a pressure.”

Smylie’s win in the co-sanctioned event at Royal Queensland last year secured him a DP World Tour card and allowed him to ply his trade all around globe in 2025.

He qualified for the season-ending DP World Tour playoffs, and although not doing enough in the Race to Dubai standings to earn a PGA Tour card, he was satisfied with his year.

“If you’re in that (DP World Tour Championship) event, you’ve obviously had a good year,” Smylie said.

“There are only 50 guys playing it, and being in that event, being in the same field as some of the best players in the world, it was just a by-product of all the good work that I’ve done this year.

“I didn’t quite have the two weeks (in the playoffs) that I wanted in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but if you’d have told me 12 months ago that I’d be in the position that I’m in now, I would definitely have taken it.

“Winning the Australian PGA was a kick-start to having an opportunity to play on a tour that I’ve grown up watching, and there are a lot of strong players out there.

“Being in the position to be able to pick and choose where I wanted to play, and being able to create a full schedule, it’s something that I hadn’t been able to do up until this year.”

Smylie said 2025 had been a learning experience “on and off the course”.

“I’ve played 24 events this year, and I’ve never played that (many before). If you look back at my previous years, I’ve only played eight, nine, 10, 11 events, so once you include the travel and the time changes and the different courses, the different conditions and different climates, I think it’s been a real character building year for me.

“You learn a lot about yourself when you’re away from home and you’re in unfamiliar environments.

“You learn how capable you are of being able to get through really tough challenges like I’ve had to face this year, both on and off the course, but that’s something that professional sport allows you to do.

“It’s one of those things where I’ve got very good people around me and guiding me in the right direction.

“It’s been a really cool year. As the year’s gone on, I felt like I’ve belonged out there. I belong with the best, and I certainly have shown that with some of the golf that I’ve produced as well.”

Apart from his Australian PGA win, Smylie’s performances in the past 12 months have included a tie for second in September’s French Open, a tie for sixth at the Danish Open in August, and a tie for eighth at March’s New Zealand Open.

Smylie was also grateful for the relationships he had forged this year.

“Fortunately, I’ve been able to build a lot of good friendships on tour,” he said.

“The Aussies and Kiwis stay quite tight, guys like David Micheluzzi, Kazuma Kobori, Dan Hillier, Jason Scrivener … and then there’s also going to be a couple of Aussies that have done well through the (PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit) that are going be out on tour next year as well, so that crop of great guys to hang out with is only going to improve as well.

“It’s a great opportunity … and just goes to show the great partnership that the (PGA Tour of Australasia) has with the DP World Tour.”

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