The Australian PGA Championship has been cut to 54 holes after torrential rain forced the entire second round on Friday to be abandoned.
A continued downpour at Royal Queensland made the course unplayable and after the start of the second round was delayed it was eventually abandoned at 11:30am local time without a ball being struck.
Rain has been a constant issue of late with around 250mm falling in the Brisbane area in the last week, and the continued showers on top of already saturated turf led to standing water all around the course.
After deeming conditions unplayable on Friday, the decision was then taken to cut the event down to 54 holes, with the second round to be played on Saturday and the final round of the shortened event on Sunday.
“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,” DP World Tour tournament director Jose Maria Zamora said in a statement.
“We plan to start the second round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship at 06:00 on Saturday, with the third and final round on Sunday.”
With the ISPA HANDA Australian Open taking place next week over two courses, stretching the Australian PGA into a Monday finish was not logistically possible.
“We want to ensure we are able to bring this incredible tournament to the planned conclusion on Sunday,” added Zamora. “Mindful of the logistics of playing next week’s ISPS HANDA Australian Open over two courses.”
Elvis Smylie leads by one at the Australian PGA Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
It all means that local golfer Elvis Smylie remains in the one-shot lead he opened up in Thursday’s first round.
The Gold Coast native carded eight birdies against two bogeys in his six-under round of 65 to sit one ahead of four players who shot 66.
Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach, Australian Matias Sanchez and Chile’s Cristobal Del Solar all shot five under alongside Victor Perez – a three-time winner on the DP World Tour.
Five Australians are in a group of eight players just a shot further back on four under, just two off the lead, including three big guns Jason Day, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman.
It’ll now be a bit more of a sprint finish for the title over the weekend with just 36 holes left to play…
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