[Photo: Australian PGA Championship]

Elvis Smylie pulled off a great escape when he holed a bunker shot on the last hole to steal the Australian PGA Championship lead from superstars Cameron Smith and Jason Day, midway through the first round.

At Royal Queensland on Thursday, Smylie, the son of former tennis star Liz Smylie, didn’t even need his putter to put the finishing touches on a six-under-par 65 that put him one shot ahead of Swiss pro Joel Girrbach, Australian Matias Sanchez and France’s Victor Perez (66).

Smylie, a winner on the Australian tour already this season, found a greenside bunker with his second shot into the par-5 ninth at Royal Queensland, his last hole, but “caught it fat” and landed in another sand trap. Smylie then holed that second bunker attempt for a birdie.

“I didn’t touch the green and made 4 so a pretty good way to finish,” Smylie said with a laugh.

Smylie, who won the Western Australian Open last month, lives nearby at Southport on the Gold Coast. “I’ve played a lot of golf here and every part of my game’s really good at the moment,” he said. “I’m really excited for the next few days.”

Smith, a three-time winner of the Australian PGA, got off to a slow start in the marquee group with defending champion Min Woo Lee and Day. The trio teed off the 10th at 6.10am Brisbane time although several hundred fans were on hand to watch the Lee and the two Queenslanders. That gallery grew to almost 1,000 by round’s end.

The 2022 British Open winner Smith went out in even par with two birdies cancelled out by two bogeys before igniting on the back nine. He hit a terrific approach into the first hole, his 10th, and drained the putt to get the round going. Four birdies in the first seven holes of his back nine led to a 67 that left him just two off the pace.

“I think seeing that putt (on No.1) go in got me going,” Smith said after his round. “Especially after (a poor putting performance on the final day at last week’s NSW Open, where he was T-2), seeing the ball go in (on No.1) gave me a bit of confidence. That freed up the rest of my game and I started to play aggressive.”

Lee raced to five-under but in the last six holes he made three bogeys and carded a 68. “I didn’t putt that well and just hit some loose iron shots,” Lee, three-under, said.

For his first Australian competitive appearance in seven years, Day was embraced by the crowds like he had not missed a summer of golf since the 2017 Australian Open. The 2015 PGA champion felt the warmth from Brisbane golf fans as he compiled a fantastic, bogey-free 67.

“It was great,” Day, a 13-time PGA Tour winner, said. “Usually the Australian crowds are great but it’s been a while since I’ve been here I wasn’t too sure how things would unfold but it was great. The crowds were fantastic and there were a lot of junior golfers out there. Obviously, ‘Cammie’ (Smith) is a big draw and it’s nice to watch ‘Minners’ (Lee). When you’re in the marquee group, there’s a lot of people watching and it’s nerve-wracking.”

Leishman was also four-under although his group of Harry Higgs and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen had very few watching, given they played directly behind the Smith trio.

“It was fine; we knew how it was going to be and that everyone would be out there watching them,” Leishman said. “It wasn’t like playing behind Tiger (Woods) where people are usually running around. I played good; I was determined to get off to a good start and last year I was fair few shots behind going into Sunday. You have to get in the zone early.”