BRISBANE, Australia (AP) \u2014 Sebastian Garcia had a good round going Thursday at the Australian PGA Championship until bad weather got in the way.<\/p>\n
The Spanish golfer had completed 15 holes at the par-71 Royal Queensland course and was 7-under before a mid-afternoon thunderstorm delay. Spectators were later ordered by tournament organizers to vacate the course<\/a>.<\/p>\n The weather delay and later suspension meant about half of the 156-player field will be forced to complete their first rounds on Friday morning. Round 2 tee times were to be delayed by 90 minutes.<\/p>\n Earlier, and fresh from an eight-week break after a season that included his first two tournament wins on the PGA Tour, Ryan Fox shot a 4-under 67 and was tied for the lead among those who had finished their rounds.<\/p>\n The 38-year-old New Zealander bogeyed the par-4 second hole but had five birdies the rest of the way.<\/p>\n The tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour of Australia and the European tour, which is starting its 2025-26 season just two weeks after Rory McIlroy won<\/a> the Race to Dubai title.<\/p>\n Fox won this year\u2019s Myrtle Beach Classic<\/a> and Canadian Open<\/a> on the PGA Tour. <\/p>\n Fox was level with Australian Anthony Quayle and 2024 Asia-Pacific amateur champion Ding Wenyi in a group at 4-under. Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, and fellow Australian Min Woo Lee each shot 68 and were a stroke behind the early leaders.<\/p>\n Quayle had a familiar name as caddie \u2014 Steve Williams. On the bag for 13 of Tiger Woods\u2019 major titles, Williams also caddied for Scott when he won the Masters in 2013.<\/p>\n \u201cI met him at the New Zealand Open earlier this year … got on fairly well and I said, \u2018Do you mind if we go grab a coffee afterwards, I\u2019d love to pick your brain?\u2019\u201d Quayle said after his bogey-free round Thursday. \u201cHe said \u2018I\u2019ll give you my number, I\u2019ll come caddie for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s five-birdie round ended with his second bogey of the day.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s tricky around the greens,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIf you\u2019re just a little bit outside the circle, it can get hard to make putts and you can\u2019t really force it because then you can make mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n Former British Open champion and LIV Tour regular Cameron Smith, winless in more than two years, shot 69, as did the defending champion Elvis Smylie. <\/p>\n Smith, who has won the Australian PGA three times and was runner-up last year, had five top-10 finishes in 13 regular LIV Golf events this season. But he missed his sixth straight cut at last week\u2019s Saudi International in Riyadh.<\/p>\n He was pleased to be back in his home state of Queensland.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I just have a sense of just being at home, feel comfortable sleeping in my own bed,\u201d Smith said. \u201cLots of familiar faces around, so yeah, it\u2019s just always good to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n