Cameron Smith should be clear favourite for Royal Pines title defence

Starts 8pm Wednesday

Australian World Cup duo Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, who finished second at The Metropolitan Club on Sunday, are jostling for favouritism at the Royal Pines Resort this week.

Leishman has been given a slight edge by the layers for the Australian PGA Championship, which starts at 8pm UK and Ireland time, but defending champion Smith is surely more deserving of market leadership.

On course credentials, Smith has an edge, having compiled form figures of 35-9-5-15-1 since the PGA moved to Royal Pines in his home state of Queensland in 2013. Smith loves performing in front of family and friends at this event and must have every chance of retaining the trophy on turf where he is ultra-comfortable.

Smith was brilliant in the World Cup last week, carrying an out-of-sorts partner for long periods. Leishman, who has never won on the Oz Tour, missed a tiddler for birdie on the 16th hole of the final round when Australia had a genuine chance of catching Belgium at the top of the board. Smith had created that opportunity with a magnificent wedge-shot and the youngest member of the pairing was by far the more impressive of the two.

Prior to the World Cup, Smith finished tenth in the Australian Open, improving his score each day and closing with a 66. If the Brisbane boy has enough mental energy left in the tank – and he has been taking it easy over the last couple of days to recharge his batteries – then the rest of the field may be playing for second place.

Smith, in possession of his A-game, looks a rock-solid each-way investment, while pick of the bigger prices is Sean Crocker. The 22-year-old American youngster has bundles of potential and is growing in confidence.

Crocker turned his attention to the Challenge Tour in June and secured a European Tour card in rapid fashion, courtesy of finishing third four times – the Euram Open, Kazakhstan Open, Hainan Open and Foshan Open – then fifth in the Challenge Tour Grand Final at the start of this month.

Crocker's first start as a European Tour member resulted in a missed cut by a shot in the Hong Kong Open last week, but the venue does not play to his strengths and the weekend off is easily forgiven. The attacking powerhouse followed a round-one 76 in tough conditions with a second-round 66. He is in great nick and has returned to a course where he closed with a 67 to finish seventh on his PGA debut 12 months ago. His second start in Australia resulted in a share of fifth in the Perth Super 6.

Jason Scrivener, Lucas Herbert, Cameron Davis, Jordan Zunic and Nick Cullen are best of the rest, but Smith and Crocker are most appealing of all.

Recommendations
C Smith
4pts each-way 11-2 general
S Crocker
1pt each-way 45-1 BoyleSports

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