‘Turning into disaster’ — Smith on brink as Aussie cult hero mounts epic surge — Aus PGA LIVE
Cameron Smith’s nightmare year just got worse as the major winner missed the cut at the Australian PGA Championship, while Min Woo Lee staked his claim for a second win at Royal Queensland.
Three-time champion Smith unravelled on the back nine, making three bogeys and a double to miss the cut by four shots, finishing +2 after 36 holes with rounds of 69 and 75.
Second round meltdowns have been all too common for the 2022 Open champion this year as he has now missed the cut in his last seven 72-hole tournament, including all four majors in 2025.
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LEADERBOARD: Live scores
It is also the second time in three years that Smith has missed the weekend in his hometown of Brisbane.
The 32-year-old has long had problems with a wayward driver, but at his best was always able to mask such an issue with his stellar short game and sublime putting.
The concern aspect of Friday afternoon’s disappointing round was that Smith’s magic on the greens deserted him as it has done all too often this year.
He uncharacteristically pulled his putts left on several occasions, and when he did so to squander a chance to pull a shot back at the par 5 15th, commentator Alison Whitaker was left baffled.
“Bizarre scenes from Cameron Smith, who is normally one of the best putters in the world,” the professional turned broadcaster said.
In the same afternoon marquee group, Lee was turning heads for all the right reasons as he briefly jumped into a share of the lead before a bogey on 18 left him one shot adrift at 8-under.
The 27-year-old, who won his first PGA Tour title earlier this year, treated the crowd at Royal Queensland to a long drive contest with Marco Penge – the Englishman who came second to Rory McIlroy in this year’s Race to Dubai rankings.
Lee and his soon to be PGA Tour colleague were launching them a mile off the tee but also showing off their short game skills as they made 13 birdies between them.
Penge lit up the front nine with six birdies, but crucially the Australian did not drop a shot until the last.
The 2023 champion fired one of the rounds of the day with a five-under par round of 66.
Lee’s Friday afternoon surge also boosted Australia’s chances of maintaining the host nation’s stranglehold on the Kirkwood Cup.
Veteran Brett Rankin shared the clubhouse lead at –9 after playing 27 holes in the morning to complete his first round and play his second.
Also at —9 is Anthony Quayle, who has attracted attention this week for having Tiger Woods’ former caddie Steve Williams on the bag, is also in the mix as he threatened to outshine Lee in the afternoon field with a bogey free effort for a second straight day.
They share the lead with Kiwi Kazuma Kobori and China’s Wenyi Ding.
Marc Leishman, meanwhile, produced one of the highlights of the day during his second round 68, holing out from a greenside bunker for eagle at the par 5 seventh.
He also showed off impressive firepower making five birdies, but stopped himself from going really low with four bogeys.
They are the sort of blunders that could limit a weekend charge towards a first Australian PGA title, and Leishman says he is spurred on by his recent near misses on home soil.
“I’m very competitive. Yes, I’m easy going but get in the heat of the battle and I fight hard,” the 42-year-old said.
“So definitely being close here, the last few years finished in third here, the Aussie PGA, the last two years and third of the Australian Open last year.
“Having opportunities and not getting over the line has been I guess a little frustrating and a bit disappointing, but from every time you don’t win you learn something. So
hopefully I’ve learned enough out of those tournaments, and tournaments that I haven’t won around the world and have won for that.
“Yeah, the will’s there to really want to win one of these things.”
DAVIS REDISCOVERS ‘LOVE FOR THE GAME’
A three-month hiatus from tournament play is proving to be the best thing for Australia’s Cam Davis.
The 30-year-old has opened the Australian PGA with rounds of 68 and 67 to be among the contenders heading into the weekend.
It comes as Davis enjoyed a break from the weekly grind for the first time in seven times.
He last played a professional tournament back in August, at the opening event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and Davis feels rejuvenated by the time away from the golf course after a challenging year that included missing the cut in half of the 22 events he played.
“I needed a break this year, so I was glad that I kind of already locked up my status for next year early enough to be able to take that time off,” the two-time PGA Tour winner said.
“I feel like it’s pretty much seven years straight where I haven’t taken an off season. I’ve just kind of grinded all the way through it.
“I mean playing in Australia is amazing. It’s also the one little period of time the PGA Tour is not playing, so if anything I was always playing more golf than a lot of the guys were over there. So it was great to take the time off.
“It was great to get the love for the game back.
“It was a bit rough towards the end of my season, so yeah, it’s worked out really well.
“It’s fresh and ready to go.”
OAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA – JUNE 13: Cam Davis of Australia hits a tee shot on the fifth hole during the second round of the 125th U.S. OPEN at Oakmont Country Club on June 13, 2025 in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Andy Lyons/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by ANDY LYONS / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)Source: AFP
INSANE, RECORD BREAKING DEBUT
Little known Spaniard Rocco Repetto Taylor produced one of the craziest finishes to a round ever seen at Royal Queensland as half of the field had to wrap up their opening rounds on Friday morning at the Australian PGA Championship.
The 23-year-old, who celebrated his birthday yesterday and was promoted from the secondary HotelPlanner Tour this year, went on a ridiculous birdie-birdie-eagle-eagle-birdie-birdie run to play the last six holes of his first round in eight-under par.
Repetto Taylor needed only a tournament record 29 shots to navigate the front nine, his second nine, and he signed off on a seven-under par round of 64 to sit one shot back from countryman Sebastian Garcia at -8 at the end of the first round.
“First round in Australia, first round on the DP World Tour, so very, very happy. I’m going to remember it for a long time,” Repetto Taylor said.
The rookie’s day did not start swimmingly, however, as he made bogey on the second when his wedge shot into the green hit his playing partner’s ball marker and ricocheted over the back.
His luck turned in incredible fashion in the closing holes as he holed out for eagle at the par 4 sixth from 64 metres, and followed that up by draining a 15-foot eagle putt at the par 5 seventh.
He then finished with a bang, holing a putt from almost 20 metres off the green after chunking a chip.
