The Japan Times - Spain's Sebastian Garcia in charge as hail halts Australian PGA

The world number 418 was seven-under par after 15 holes of the first event of the DP World Tour's 2026 season when the storm hit Royal Queensland Golf Club, which will host the golf events at the 2032 Olympics.

Garcia, a 36-year-old journeyman who has four wins on Europe's developmental tours, was two clear of Australian Daniel Gale who had a hole-in-one at the par-three 11th to win himself a new BMW on his way to being five-under after 12 holes.

A group of morning starters finished at four-under par 67 to share the clubhouse lead, including two-time US PGA Tour winner Ryan Fox from New Zealand, Australian Anthony Quayle, China's Ding Wenyi and Finland's Tapio Pulkkanen.

Quayle summoned Tiger Woods' former caddie Steve Williams to work for him this week and at next week's Australian Open.

He began from the 10th and made birdies at the 15th and 17th before adding two more at the first and sixth.

Quayle said 62-year-old New Zealander Williams added a layer of certainty over every shot.

"There was no room at all for any doubt, it just didn't seem to creep into my mind any time I made a little bit of a mistake," he said of having Williams on the bag.

"I've strung together a few top tens and top fives recently and the game feels really good without being great, and I'm hoping that Steve can just bring part of that missing ingredient for me these next couple weeks."

LIV golfer Sebastian Munoz from Colombia and Australia's Jye Pickin were also four-under but were unable to complete their rounds.

There was a logjam at three-under, including former Masters champion Adam Scott and PGA Tour winner Min Woo Lee, the 2023 Australian PGA champion.

Scott began his round at 6.10am and posted a 68 featuring five birdies and two bogeys.

"That's pretty wild getting up at 3.30am to play golf. The good bit is you get nine holes in fairly cool weather and now I can go and have a second breakfast," Scott said.

"I played pretty solid. It's wet and that made it tricky around the greens."

Cameron Smith, the 2022 British Open winner, was two-under after a 69 while breakout DP World Tour star Marco Penge, the best-ranked golfer in the field at 30th, was one under.

Y.Kato--JT