Jed Morgan early PGA mover in Brisbane

Murray Wenzel |

Jed Morgan has set up a five-shot lead midway through his second round at the Australian PGA Championship after overnight pacesetter Louis Dobbelaar stumbled at Royal Queensland GC.

Dobbelaar, who has only just turned professional, carded a seven-under 64 to lead by a shot on Thursday.

But he was two-over after nine holes in Brisbane, allowing a red-hot Morgan to pass him after starting the day one shot behind thanks to his first-round 65.

Morgan, who is an RQ member, was five-under through the first 11 holes, with birdies on four of five holes either side of the turn powering him to 11-under for the tournament.

Michael Wright was six-under early in his round, while Andrew Dodt (five-under), Jarryd Felton (four-under) and Jake McLeod (four-under) also made Friday morning moves.

Aaron Pike (six-under) and Min Woo Lee (three-under) will tee off later on Friday afternoon.

The tournament, back at RQ for the first time since 2001, wasn’t contested in 2020 and then delayed until early this year.

That delay meant all of the country’s US-based talent were unable to attend, leaving a wide-open field of Australia’s emerging talent fighting for the $180,000 first prize.

The tournament will return to Europe’s DP World Tour when it is again held later this year, with a $2 million purse – double what’s on offer this weekend – likely to attract some big names.

AAP