On a day when most wore yellow in memory of Jarrod Lyle former champ Min Woo Lee is ready to shine the brightest and deliver his Royal Queensland fans another show for the ages as Kiwi phenom Kazuma Kobori surged late to lead in the weather-affected BMW Australian PGA Championship in Brisbane.
A standout amateur who won the 2023/2024 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit courtesy of a three-win rookie season, Kobori’s late flurry earned him the clubhouse lead at 10-under on the host Royal Queensland course.
The lost of much of the afternoon due to lightning on Thursday was always going to put pressure on the 156-player field on day two and it did with poor light halting play at 6,35pm local Brisbane time leaving 21 players still to complete their second round in a continuing ‘preferred lie’ rule.
No early alarm set to ring for Kobori won’t need to worry about an early alarm after impressively rescuring his round with four straight birdies to shoot an 8-under 63 for a one shot lead.
JAMMED-PACK ATOP OF THE BOARD ..
Including @TigerWoods former long-time caddy (Steve Williams) T2nd heading to weekend rounds @bmwau #AusPGA
Also thru to weekend @DavidLawGolf in first 2026 @DPWorldTour start
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Making his debut appearance as a member of the DP World Tour, Gold Coast’s Anthony Quayle drawning on the major championship pedigree of caddie Steve Williams to post 5-under 66 to sit equal second at 9-under with Brisbane’s Brett Rankin (69) and 21-year-old Chinese standout Wenyi Ding (66).
Lee is one stroke further back at 8-under and in a share of fifth, his only blemish of Round 2 coming on the 18th hole when he was unable to get up-and-down from beneath the grandstands behind the green.
Calling for an influx of chef’s hats to help him cook across the weekend, an enthusiastic Lee insists he won’t shy away from a repeat of his championship-winning performance of two years ago.
“Yeah, for sure, I’m in the right position for it,” Lee said of the prospect of further weekend wizardry.
“I feel somewhat rusty but also good at the same time. Yesterday was not the best, but got it around, which was very nice to see.
“Usually when I don’t have my best stuff, it’s over-par, so it’s quite nice to shoot in the under-pars and be around the lead, even though I didn’t play my best.
“Today was a little bit better and hopefully the weekend can be more solid.”
Unaware he was leading the tournament after signing his scorecard, Kobori’s rookie season in Europe has shown his best is truly world class.
“I think my good is good enough, but my poor is not quite good enough to crack it,” Kobori said of his learnings from his rookie season.
“I want to get a little bit more consistency, not in results, but more so my processes and what I’m doing more so off the golf course, away from the tournament such as the gym, practice range, meditation, mental skills, all of that good stuff.
“Trying to get a bit more control on those things that will allow me to perform a better on course.”
With a legendary caddie guiding the way for the first time this week, Quayle has a not-so-secret weapon in his arsenal.
On the bag for 13 of Tiger Woods’ 15 major wins, Williams called Quayle off his approach shot into the par-4 10th. The result? A third birdie in the space of four holes and a sense of invincibility.
“I was about to pull the trigger and he had the courage just to say, ‘Mate, sorry, I’ve got to stop you. It’s not that anymore. It’s this’,” Quayle said of a sudden shift in wind direction.
“He’s like, ‘Trust this. It’s a hundred per cent this. If you hit this, it’ll be good.’ And then felt like I executed that really well.
“That trait is something that’s so rare. I think he is really putting his neck on the line by doing that.”
There are nine players currently in a tie for ninth at 7-under including world No.30 Marco Penge (65), Aussie PGA TOUR winners Marc Leishman (68) and Cam Davis (67) and Kiwi Daniel Hillier (67).
Scot David Law, and second on this year’s secondary HotelPlanner Tour, has kick-started his return to the main DP World Tour posting scores of 69 and 70 for a three-under tally. A year ago, Law missed the cut.
Three-time champion Cameron Smith was one of the big names who will miss the projected cut-line of 2-under, along with five-time 2025 LIV Golf winner and former Australian Open champ Joaquin Niemann and Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen.
- Copy thanks to Golf.com.au
