December 19-22
RACV Royal Pines Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
AUD$1,500,000
Round 1, Round 3, Round 4

Major Champion Adam Scott carded a five under par round of 67 to stay in the hunt heading into the weekend at the Australian PGA Championship.

“It was a good solid round today, which I needed to kind of stay on the pace. Generally played really good today, so I'm pretty happy shooting 67. You should be most times you shoot 67.

“I pulled a seven iron somewhere that I didn't like very much and made a bogey, but other than that I think I pretty much hit 16 greens today, so it was fairly stress free. I played fairly defensive into the greens because I thought the pins were actually a little more tucked today and to get it really close you must risk hitting it down some of the big runoffs off these greens. I didn't really want to do that too much and I played safe. I rolled a lot of nice putts. A lot went by the edge, but I made a couple as well.”

The home favourite, who became Australia's first Masters Champion in 2013, eagled the 15th hole at RACV Royal Pines Resort for the second day in a row, and then carded four further birdies to sit two strokes behind China's Carl Yuan. Yuan recorded the joint-low round of the tournament thus far, a seven under par 65, to move to nine under par.

“It was a great day, honestly," said Yuan. "I played great, played smart, stuck to the plan. I was fortunate enough that I got a couple of really long putts that dropped through the round. I made two little mistakes, but really pulled myself together and kept it going.

“It's my second time playing here. It was helpful playing here last year. I know the course a lot better and my strategy, the holes change a bit and it really paid off. I'm more used to the wind here now since I played here last year. It's a little different sometimes because change directions. Just got to really be patient and hit shot by shot here.”

In second is Australian Anthony Quayle, who plies his trade on the Japan Golf Tour. The 25-year-old moved to eight under par after a second round of 66, which included six birdies and an eagle.

Scott shares third place with compatriot Wade Ormsby, who he grew up playing golf with in Adelaide, South Australia. The pair are one stroke ahead of Michael Hendry, of New Zealand, and Australia's Tom Power Horan.

“I think three of the last five years I've played well around here," said Ormsby. "It's a good course. Pretty tricky green complexes. I think if you have seen them a little bit and you know where to hit it, you've got a little bit of an advantage. You just can't hit darts all day, you've got to kind of play the golf course, play the pins and whatever else. I think that's probably the reason why I'm kind of around the mark this week.”

South African Bryce Easton, who finished 22nd on the Challenge Tour's Road to Mallorca Rankings in 2019, carded a four under par round of 68 to move to a share of seventh, alongside twice-defending champion Cameron Smith, who matched Yuan's round of 65.

Smith is bidding to become the first player to win a non-Major or WGC European Tour event three years in a row since Ernie Els won the Heineken Classic, also held in Australia, from 2002 to 2004.