'Dream come true' as Smylie holds off Smith

Australian PGA Championship - final leaderboard

-14 E Smylie (Aus); -12 C Smith (Aus); -11 M Leishman (Aus), A Quayle (Aus); -10 D Micheluzzi (Aus); -9 A Ayora (Spa), C Davis (Aus)

Selected others

-8 J Parry (Eng), J Day (Aus); -7 M Southgate (Eng); -6 J Smith (Eng); -4 R Ramsay (Sco)

Full leaderboard

Elvis Smylie held off former Open champion Cameron Smith down the back nine to win the Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Queenslander carded a four-under-par 67 to finish on 14 under for the tournament, which was reduced to 54 holes after heavy rain washed out play on Friday.

Australian Smith, a three-time winner of this event, posted a final round of 69 to finish two shots back on 12 under, with compatriots Marc Leishman (69) and Anthony Quayle (63) a shot further back.

Smylie, 22, was one of two players to receive the Cameron Smith Scholarship in 2019 and the pair shared the second-round lead heading into Sunday.

The world number 736, son of former four-time Grand Slam tennis doubles champion Liz Smylie, only secured his first professional win on the PGA Tour of Australasia last month.

But after carding four birdies to reach the turn with a three-shot lead, he held his nerve to make several par saves and stay ahead of Smith, who birdied the 15th and holed out for another at the 17th.

"It's a dream come true," Smylie said. "I just said to Matt [Clayton, caddie] that I won't forget this day, you know, playing with Cam and Leish there.

"I've looked up to these guys since I was a kid and just being in their presence and to compete against them for the title, I've learned so much and [I'm] just so grateful and so honoured right now.

"My short game was great, I definitely saved myself in that department. I was pretty average off the tee, but golf is a game of imperfection and today that was a sign of that."

Smylie added: "My mum and dad have been with me every step of the way. I saw my mum in the corner there, tearing up before I holed that last putt - so everyone who has been on this journey with me, they know how hard I've worked to be here and hopefully this is just the start of good things to come."