Cam Smith is craving for an Australian PGA Sunday showdown with “one of the best golfers ever” in Adam Scott following the pair’s impressive start to the tournament at Royal Queensland.
Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, was the early clubhouse leader on Thursday 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 the end of the day, 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.
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“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.”
Scott and Smith have similar intentions to shoot low in the hope of going head-to-head in Sunday’s final group.
“I’d like it – I haven’t done that yet with ‘Scotty’,” Smith said.
“He’s coming into form the ‘old fella’, so he might be hard to chase down over the weekend.
“He’s obviously one of the best golfers ever, so it would be a good one.”
Teeing off at 6am Queensland time on Thursday 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 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.”
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.
