Cam Davis was co-leader after opening round of PGA Championship before a late move from Jhonattan Vegas

Cam Davis flies under the radar but the Australian is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour and made a great start at the year’s second major.

Cam Davis couldn’t quite nail down why results haven’t been going his way in 2025, but after working “really hard” to turn things around, he saw the first “real sign” at the perfect time as he surged up the leaderboard in the opening round of the PGA Championship.

But Cam Smith’s major battles continued and after missing the cut at the Masters the LIV star dropped six shots in his final eight holes at Quail Hollow to card an ugly seven-over 78 and found himself in a tie for 139th.

Smith only hit six of 13 fairways, as his struggles off the tee continued, and only eight players in the entire field carded a worse score.

Davis, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, had also missed five straight cuts, including at the Masters, before getting into more of a rhythm in his last three events.

Cameron Davis shares the first-round lead. Picture: AP Photo/George Walker IV

He found that rhythm again at Quail Hollow, carding seven birdies in an opening round of five-under 66, a closing hole bogey the only thing preventing Davis from holding the outright lead in North Carolina.

Then Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas birdied his two closing holes in fading light to take a two-shot lead over Davis and American Ryan Gerard.

“I haven’t been having the best results on course lately over the last few months and been working really hard to turn that around, and to see the first real sign that it’s turning around happen in the first round of a major, it’s very encouraging,” Davis said.

“I rolled a lot of putts that went in and kept the momentum going, and I feel like for a major, when you’re playing a difficult golf course, if you can do that, you can keep things moving forward.

“Very happy with my work today, but it’s still a four-round event. But you can definitely help yourself a lot by having a good first round.”

Cameron Smith struggled at Quail Hollow. (Photo by Andrew Redington / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

Davis said he felt he was on track when he finished tied for fifth at Pebble Beach in January, but then things started to go sideways and he didn’t make another cut until the RBC Heritage event after the Masters.

“I actually played really well at the beginning of the year and felt like I was playing well enough to actually win an event. I was constantly in contention, and then it just kind of left me,” he said.

“It’s just constantly trying to go back to things that have worked, trying to keep the head in a place where you’re not feeling like you’re banging your head against the wall all the time. It’s letting it organically come, good processes, good routines, all those little one percenters add up to good golf eventually, and I feel like this week has been a week of good preparation.

“Eventually the putts start dropping and you hit a few more good shots in. That’s when you’ve just got to – as hard as it is – stay patient, that’s pretty much all you can do.”

Adam Scott is the next best-placed Aussie at two-under, after dropping two shots on his final two holes, with Elvis Smylie on one-duner after also making bogey on his closing hole, while 2015 Masters champ, Jason Day sits at two-over.

Min Woo Lee is one further back at three-over, while Karl Vilips struggled. The PGA Tour rookie carded five bogeys and two double-bogeys in a seven-over round of 78.

PGA LEADERBOARD

7-under Jhonattan Vegas

5-under Cam Davis, Ryan Gerards

THE AUSSIES

2-under Adam Scott

1-under Elvis Smylie

2-over Jason Day

4-over Min Woo Lee

7-over Cam Smith, Karl Vilips