Spaniard Joel Moscatel, world number 1,162, equaled the course record with a stellar first-round 63 to emerge as the surprise leader at the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday. In his first tournament as a professional, the 25-year-old golfer shone with his own light: “It was crazy. I know that it is a tournament that can change my life, but you have to go step by step,” he confessed to the press.
The man from Ilerda lost his DP World Tour card by one stroke in last week's qualifying tournament, but on the first day of the European tour season he finished the first round at the Royal Queensland Golf Club with 8 under par.
Moscatel stormed to the top of the leaderboard at Royal Queensland with a run of five birdies from holes 12 to 16, posting a bogey-free round of eight under par to be one shot ahead of local talent Min Woo Lee. John Lyras was in third place at 6 under after an opening 65, with Adam Scott among a group of six players at 5 under, including Connor Syme of Scotland and Ryo Hisatsune of Japan.
Local favorite and former world number one Adam Scott was two shots further back in the A$2 million ($1.3 million) event, which kicks off the new DP World Tour season. "I'm happy to have played a solid round and got off on the right foot," Scott said. The same couldn't be said for defending champion and hometown favorite Cam Smith, who was 2 up after opening with a 73. "It was frustrating, upsetting... I couldn't really do anything," Smith said.
Joel Moscatel had only played the Acciona Open of Spain as an amateur in 2021, but with 72 and 71 strokes, he missed the cut by three.
