Nov 22,2024
The BMW Australian PGA Championship has been reduced to 54 holes after torrential rain made the Royal Queensland course unplayable on Friday.
The second round of the opening event of the 2025 DP World Tour season was abandoned before play got underway at 11.30am local time (1.30am GMT) following almost 250mm of rainfall in the Brisbane area in the past seven days.
Due to the logistics of next week's ISPS HANDA Australian Open, which will be played over two courses at Kingston Heath and Victoria, organisers have decided to play round two on Saturday with the same scheduled tee-times.
Round three will take place on Sunday to complete the 54-hole tournament.
Jose Maria Zamora, the DP World Tour tournament director for the BMW Australian PGA Championship, said in statement: "Continued downpours throughout the morning have left a number of fairways at Royal Queensland Golf Club saturated and the course has been deemed unplayable today.
"We plan to start the second round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship at 6am on Saturday, with the third and final round on Sunday.
"We want to ensure we are able to bring this incredible tournament to the planned conclusion on Sunday, mindful of the logistics of playing next week's ISPS HANDA Australian Open over two courses."
Elvis Smylie holds a narrow lead after Thursday's first round after he holed out from a bunker on his final hole.
Smylie, 22, carded an opening 65 at Royal Queensland to finish six under par, a shot ahead of compatriot Matias Sanchez, France's Victor Perez, Switzerland's Joel Girrbach and Chile's Cristobal Del Solar.
Three-time winner Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open champion, was part of an eight-strong group on four under par which includes former world number one Jason Day.
