Travis Smyth hits ace as Nick Voke leads Webex Players Series Sydney

Nick Voke holds a healthy lead in the Webex Players Series event in Sydney, as Travis Smyth smashed an ace to stay in contention.

The last time he had a hole-in-one in a professional tournament, Travis Smyth did it at Royal Liverpool on his Open Championship debut.

The hole was at the pointy end of a debate which raged all week about a turtle back green which funnelled balls towards pot bunkers all around it. Was it fair on those who played it? Smyth didn’t care. He was the only one to have an ace in the 151st staging of the famous tournament.

On Friday, Smyth had his fourth hole-in-one during competition … before 8.30am on a Friday morning in Sydney’s north-west. It was watched by almost no one.

“The Open Championship was a little bit different,” Smyth laughed.

The ace on Castle Hill Country Club’s 11th hole, playing 151 metres during the second round, was all the more sweeter because Smyth didn’t even see the eight-iron go in the hole.

Travis Smyth after hitting a hole-in-one. Picture: PGA of Australia/Brett Costello

“I was trying to hit it a little bit past and to the left, 10 feet left,” Smyth said. “It went straight into the sun and I said to (my caddie), ‘where is that?’ He said, ‘it’s right at it’. Then it was in. I lost it completely.

“If anything, it narrowed my focus a bit more (afterwards). I could hole out more shots. I was standing on the fairway and saying to my caddie, ‘it changes your mentality. You feel like you can do exactly what you want the ball to do’.”

The former LIV golfer used the hole-in-one to springboard to a four-under 68 on Friday to keep him in contention in the Webex Players Series Sydney event.

It’s a rare appearance at home for Smyth (-9), who mainly plies his trade on the Asian Tour, and the pre-tournament favourite has some ground to make up on New Zealand’s Nick Voke (-17), who carded a scintillating nine-under 63 in his second round.

Like fellow Kiwi Josh Geary who won this month’s Victorian Open, Voke doesn’t devote all his time to professional golf these days. He’s taken to making social media content more regularly on the hugely popular Taco Golf platform alongside other content creators.

Nick Voke during round two of the 2025 Webex Players Series Sydney at Castle Hill Country Club. Picture: PGA of Australia/Brett Costello

“Maybe there’s a secret in being a part-time player,” Voke said. “Maybe that’s the key.

“I think someone asked me the other day: what percentage of my golf is pro and what percentage is YouTube? I said 75 to 80 per cent pro and 20 to 25 YouTube. But I reckon there’s a secret in that 20 to 25 per cent helping the rest.”

Voke went to his accommodation for the week after his round and promptly started cutting up YouTube videos. He’ll worry about his third round when he’s on course.

“Us pros can get in the grind and try to do too much, try to be perfect, and to genuinely have something to look forward to outside of the golf course is amazing,” Voke said.

“Secondly, I’ve learned so much about myself playing with them and using those lessons when I compete. The last six months have been incredible and I’m excited for the next six.”

Voke is ahead by two from first round leader Declan O’Donovan (-15), the NSW amateur firing a second round six-under 66 which included a near hole-in-one on the fourth.

“Three inches,” O’Donovan said of how close he was to holing out. “I’ve never had a hole-in-one. I’ve had three albatrosses, but never a hole-in-one, not in practice or anything. That’s probably the closest I’ve ever come.

“It was a great number and it was a great flight going straight at it. My caddie told me to go six feet left because it was a better putt and I told him, ‘yes’.

“But I was never going to.”

NSW AMATEUR A STAR ON THE RISE

A year after shooting one of the worst rounds of his short career, NSW amateur Declan O’Donovan again stamped himself as a star on the rise after surging to an early lead at the Webex Players Series Sydney event on Thursday.

O’Donovan, who was given the honour of being paired with Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert for the first two rounds of last year’s NSW Open, upstaged the more seasoned professionals with a nine-under 63 at Castle Hill Country Club.

The 21-year-old signed for a six-over 78 in the opening round of last year’s corresponding event.

“If you go from this event just a year ago until now, I’m a completely different person and a completely different golfer,” O’Donovan said. “It’s nice to see a round like today happen.

“I think it was nice little wake-up call (last year) to how good you’ve got to play to compete out here. I teed it up today definitely seeing a score like that. I’m very happy with how I played.”

Round 1 Thurs 2025 Webex Players Series – Sydney during Round 1 of the 2025 Webex Players Series – Sydney at Castle Hill Country Club, Sydney.. Photo: PGA of Australia / Brett Costello

O’Donovan, who last month became the first person to defend his NSW Amateur title in more than 50 years, had 10 birdies and a bogey in the idyllic morning conditions to lead Nathan Barbieri and New Zealand’s Nick Voke (64) by a stroke.

Having also made a weekend charge at the Victorian Open, O’Donovan said he has no immediate plans to turn professional as he plots the next step in his career.

“There’s a couple of things I’d like to check off as an amateur beforehand, stuff like Eisenhower Cup,” he said. “I know it hasn’t been selected, but that’s what I’m going for.

“The US Amateur and a couple of big pro events I’d (also) like to play in. I think next year will be a good time for me. I’m not really on a strict schedule until I turn pro, when it feels right I’ll go for it.”

Barbieri was bogey free in his round while LPGA Tour rookie Cassie Porter was the best of the women in the dual gender event with a seven-under 65.

Men and women play from their respective tees but compete against each other in the Webex Players Series events, which are held all across the country during the PGA Tour of Australasia season.

“I really only hit one bad shot all day and that was the tee shot on 10,” Barbieri said. “Other than that it was fairways and greens and holing some putts.”

Pre-tournament favourite and Asian Tour regular Travis Smyth carded a five-under 67 to be lurking ominously before the second round.

Smyth, who dipped his toe in the waters against elite competition in the first year of LIV Golf, is making a rare appearance in Australia after recently returning his base to Sydney.

Originally published as Travis Smyth hits ace as Nick Voke leads Webex Players Series Sydney