Rain suspends play ahead of PGA Champs second round
Overnight rain has forced organisers to suspend play at the Australian PGA Championships ahead of the second round.
Rain has caused scheduling havoc at Brisbane’s Australian PGA Championship with play suspended ahead of the second round.
Flooding at Royal Queensland forced organisers to make the call early on Friday, the course copping 180mm of rain since Saturday.
Play was initially pushed back from a scheduled 6am (AEST) start by at least two hours, before officials then ruled no golf would be possible until at least 11am.
The next call will be at 10am local time, with practice facilities still open and players to be given an hour’s notice from when the course is playable.
Elvis Smylie (six-under 65) heads a packed leaderboard, one clear of French star Victor Perez, Australian Matias Sanchez, Swiss talent Joel Girrbach and Chile’s Cristobal Del Solar, who birdied four of his last five holes on a soggy course on Thursday afternoon.
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Local drawcards and major winners Cameron Smith and Jason Day, in his first Australian event in seven years, are two shots behind Queenslander Smylie.
Play was possible on Thursday despite constant rain hammering the city all week, with nearly 100mm falling on Saturday alone.
Players had been amazed by ground staff’s efforts to ensure the course was not water-logged.
But overnight downpours and constant drizzle on Friday morning proved too much to handle.
More rain is forecast for Friday but conditions are expected to improve for the weekend at the $2 million event, where Min Woo Lee (three under) is the defending champion.
