BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — The second round of the Australian PGA Championship was canceled Friday due to rain and an unplayable course and the tournament was shortened to 54 holes.
Australasian PGA Tour Officials and The European Tour event made the announcement more than five hours after the first group was scheduled to depart at Royal Queensland.
There was about 25 millimeters (one inch) of rain overnight Thursday, adding to the 200 millimeters (eight inches) that fell on the course earlier in the week. Rain began to fall heavily on the course again when the decision was made to abandon Friday’s play and reduce the tournament to three rounds.
Organizers were hampered by the fact that the state of Queensland, where the tournament is held, does not operate on daylight saving time, meaning it was not possible to play beyond 6 p.m. hours or 6:30 p.m.
The weather forecast for the weekend called for improved conditions.
Australian Elvis Smylie, 22, son of former tennis pro Liz Smylie, led after the first round with a score of 6-under 65. He was one shot ahead of Frenchman Victor Perez, the Australian Matias Sanchez, the Swiss Joel Girrbach and the Chilean Cristobal Del Solar, who birdied four of his last five holes on a soggy course Thursday afternoon.
Local drawcards and big winners Cameron Smith and Jason Day, in his first Australian event in seven years, were two shots behind Smylie after 67s.
Min Woo Lee, who won last year’s tournament at Royal Queensland, shot 68 and was three shots off the lead. Lee, Day and Smith were in the same group Thursday.
The Australian PGA is the first event of the 2025 European Tour season.
Many of these same players will travel to Melbourne next week for the Australian Open, also on the European Tour, which is played at the same time as the Women’s Australian Open on the famous Kingston Heath sand courses and Victoria.
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