Relieved defending champion Cameron Smith held off a final round charge from close friend Marc Leishman to win the Australian PGA Championship by two strokes on Sunday. The world number 33 took a three-shot lead over his fellow Australian into day four of the European Tour-sanctioned event at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, but it quickly evaporated. The 21st-ranked Leishman, who won the US PGA Tour’s CIMB Classic in Malaysia recently, had four birdies on the front nine while Smith made two bogeys to give him the edge going into the home straight. It set up a tense finale with Smith – who partnered Leishman to second place at the World Cup in Melbourne last weekend.
