BMW Australian PGA Championship 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

On your marks, get set, go! With the winning putt at the DP World Tour Championship barely holed to mark the conclusion of the 2024 season, the 2025 DP World Tour campaign gets under way at the Australian PGA Championship. 

All eyes will be on Cameron Smith, the 2022 Open champion. After defecting to LIV Golf he has tumbled down the world rankings so this week represents a golden opportunity for him to pick up some valuable points. When he won The Open in 2022 he was the world’s second-ranked player - he is now 128th. But he simply adores this tournament, having won it three times.

Still only 31 years of age, Smith turned professional in 2013 and played on the PGA Tour of Australasia. He tied for second at the 2015 Queensland PGA and 2016 Australian Open.

After qualifying for the 2015 US Open, his top-four finish earned him an invite to the following year’s Masters. It also gave him Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour for the remainder of the 2015 season and he earned his card by finishing the year in the top 125 in the money list.

He lost his card in 2016 but regained it for 2017 thanks to his play in the Web.com Tour finals.

In May 2017, Smith, partnered with Jonas Blixt, won the Zurich Classic, the first team event on the PGA Tour since 1981. He had two top-10 finishes, tying for sixth place at the Texas Open and seventh at the Wyndham Championship and finished 46th in the FedEx Cup. 

In late 2017 he won the Australian PGA for the first time after finishing fourth at the Australian Open.

In December 2018, Smith defended his title at the Australian PGA, beating Marc Leishman by two strokes.

In January 2020, he claimed his maiden individual PGA Tour title when he won the Sony Open in a playoff over Brendan Steele and when he finished second to Dustin Johnson at The Masters in November he became the first man ever to shoot four rounds in the sixties.

In April 2021, he won the Zurich Classic for the second time, in partnership with Leishman. 

But 2022 was his easily his best year as a professional. He won the Tournament of Champions with a record total of 34 under par and followed it by claiming the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass despite finding the water on his final hole.

And in July, Smith won the 150th Open at St Andrews. He shot a final-round 64 to come from four strokes off the lead and finish one shot ahead of Cameron Young and two ahead of joint third round leader Rory McIlroy and was named PGA Player of the Year. 

He ended his season by winning the Australian PGA for a third time. That came after he announced that he was joining LIV. Smith finished in a tie for fourth in his first LIV start in Boston, but he won in his second start, scoring rounds of 66, 68 and 69 to finish on 13-under par to win by three shots ahead of Johnson and Peter Uhlein. Smith won more than $5m from his first four starts on LIV Golf.

And you can be sure that he will fancy his chances of winning the Australian PGA for a fourth time this week.

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

However, Min Woo Lee might have something to say about that.

A promising amateur golfer, Lee won the 2016 US Junior Amateur, defeating Noah Goodwin 2&1 in the final, one of eight amateur titles.

He turned professional in 2019 and just missed out on retaining his DP World Tour card after finishing 117th on the Race to Dubai Rankings. Less than four months later, he earned full playing privileges on the DP World Tour after claiming his maiden victory at the 2020 ISPS Handa Vic Open, finishing two shots clear of New Zealander Ryan Fox. The victory continued a remarkable story of family success at 13th Beach Golf Club - his sister Minjee has twice won the women's section of the ISPS Handa Vic Open.

He then held his nerve to win his maiden Rolex Series title with a brilliant playoff victory over Thomas Detry and Matt Fitzpatrick at the 2021 Scottish Open.

He had to wait more than two years for his next DP World Tour success, which came at this event in 2023 - he had also won the SJM Macao Open on the Asian Tour the month prior.

His victory came at the end of an excellent season in which he had his first top five finish in a major at the US Open, finished in a share of sixth on his debut appearance at the Players Championship and took up dual-membership with the PGA Tour for 2024.

Twelve months ago, Lee bounced back from an early bogey to close out his win with a three-under par round of 68 and 20-under par total at Royal Queensland Golf Club, Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino was second on 17 under.

Leishman, whose 7-under 64 was the best of the last day, birdied his final two holes to claim outright third with Lee’s good friend and fellow West Australian, Curtis Luck, playing the back nine in four-under for a round of 69 and fourth spot.

Lee said: "I’ve always thought I could win, but it took a while to get over the hump. But two wins in the last month or so, I’m really proud of my team and myself. I made it interesting early on and through the middle, but ended up hanging on, so I’m really proud."

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2015 by Nathan Holman, in 2016 by Harold Varner III, in 2017 and 2018 by Cameron Smith, in 2019 by Adam Scott, in January 2022 by Jediah Morgan, in November 2022 by Cameron Smith and last year by Min Woo Lee. There was no tournament in 2020 and 2021.

The Course:

Royal Queensland is a par 71 measuring 7.135 yards. It opened in 1920 and was radically redesigned in 2007 by Mike Clayton. The fairways are wide and generous, the rough is short but the large greens are well-protected by bunkers.

Form Guide:

Cameron Smith may feel that he only has to turn up to win this tournament again and will start as a red-hot favourite but I expect a fit-again Jason Day, fresh from a decent PGA Tour campaign, to give him a run for his money.

To Win:

Cameron Smith. Owns this event

Each Way:

Min Woo Lee. Exciting talent

Each Way:

Jason Day. Has had a decent year

Five to Follow:

Cameron Smith. Needs some ranking points

Min Woo Lee. Great iron player

Jason Day. Fit again

Victor Perez. Elegant Frenchman

Marc Leishman. Loves playing on home soil

Prize Money & Race to Dubai Points

This year's Australian PGA Championship has a total prize fund of AUD 2,000,000 with 3,000 Race to Dubai points being available in this first event of the 2024/2025 DP World Tour season.

How to Watch: 

You can watch the BMW Australian PGA Championship on Sky Sports, with the tournament being televised in the early hours of Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings at 02:30 on Sky Sports Golf.