Iván Cantero (-4) has started the 2025 DP World Tour season in the same way he finished 2024: with good play, good results, and taking the spotlight. A few weeks ago, he secured his ‘stay’ in the first division with a notable performance in Korea (he was sixth), and today he has signed the second-best card of the afternoon session in the first round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship, a 67 that places him well within the top ten and just two shots off the lead, held by the young Australian Elvis Smylie (-6).
Only the Frenchman Victor Perez (-5) has been better than Cantero in an afternoon session played under much more challenging conditions, with wind and rain, so double credit to the Asturian, who started with a birdie on the 10th hole, the most difficult at the Royal Queensland Golf Club (Brisbane, Australia), partly because it is a par 5 converted into a long par 4 for this tournament.
Cantero has generally shown himself to be very orderly from the tee. Orderly and powerful, as usual. But he has also been sharp in recoveries around the green, as the wind and rain conditions have made it very difficult for players to control distances with irons and wedges: for the first nine holes, the Spaniard had to deal mainly with gusty wind, and for his second nine with rain, at times very heavy. Just when the rain was heaviest, for example, the Spaniard hit a good 8-iron from the tee on the 4th hole, par 3, but the ball ended up off the green. However, from there Iván holed it for birdie with a calm and accurate chip…
Let’s say that initially, the Armada was unlucky with the draw, as the seven Spanish players present at the event went out to play in the afternoon session. Considering this, the balance of this first round has been more positive than anything else, as, in addition to Cantero’s excellent result, up to four more beat the course with 70-stroke cards: Rafa Cabrera Bello (-1), Manu Elvira (-1), Sebas García (-1), and Alfredo García Heredia (-1), while Joel Moscatel (PAR) was close. Ángel Ayora (+2) paid a higher price, but the young Andalusian at least finished his round on a high, with two healing birdies in the final stretch.
We will have to see how far the leader, Smylie, a young 22-year-old Australian who is doing very well this year on the PGA Tour of Australasia, can take his adventure, a tour where he is currently third in the ranking after securing a victory last month. Australian golf, in any case, is celebrating, and not just because of Smylie’s outstanding start, as this first day also leaves most of the local idols and big favourites for the final victory at the top of the table, such as Cameron Smith (-4), Jason Day (-4), Marc Leishman (-4), or Min Woo Lee (-3), the defending champion. Only Lucas Herbert (PAR) is missing from the top of the table.
