Top pro golfers will return to the Land Down Under for the next two big tournaments in the golf world. As Rory McIlroy clinched the DP World Tour Championship trophy, the DP World Tour is preparing to start its 2025 calendar season at the Australian PGA Championship. The event’s title sponsor from 2023, Fortinet, changed to BMW for the 2025 season.

With the event returning to Royal Queensland Golf Course, so has its defending champion, Min Woo Lee. Since his victory on home soil, Lee has traveled around for various DP World Tour and PGA Tour events. But, the 26-year-old couldn’t be around anywhere and is back to get another trophy, As the defending champion, the Australian native was asked about how did he prepare to win the event again by his sponsor ADP.

Although excited for the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Lee was pretty confident in his preparations. He said, “For the most part, it’s business as usual. The one element to anticipate are the interviews and media obligations and balancing those elements with my standard preparation.” In the 2024 season, Lee posted only three other top 10 finishes two at the PGA Tour, WM Phoenix Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic and one was at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.

In the last two starts on the DP World Tour playoff, Lee finished outside of the top 20. If his performance is the same as before at the Royal Queensland GC, then, he may not win the event. And with Cameron Smith having a much better plan than Lee, it would be harder for the chef to beat the LIV Golf pro.

Min Woo Lee will have tough days against Cameron Smith 

Unlike Min Woo Lee, who played in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship, in two weeks and couldn’t practice much on the Australian course, Cameron Smith had all the chances of making himself comfortable with his game and the Australian greens. Despite concluding the LIV Golf season in October, the 2022 Open champion teed up at two local tournaments.

Smith played in the Queensland PGA Championship and the New South Wales Open. He was T3 at the former and T2 at the NSW Open as his Ripper GC teammate, Lucas Herbert, won the event. Before the Australian PGA Championship and Australian Open, Smith had one reason to play these two local events. He said, “I think the biggest [reason for playing the Queensland PGA and NSW Open] is the reps after having some time off.” While the LIV Golf pro’s dream is to win the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, with the form he is in, Smith may clinch the 2025 BMW Australian PGA Championship too.

He has already practiced a lot on the Australian courses and probably has more competitive juices flowing than Lee. Last year, Smith had a breakdown at Royal Queensland GC. But with his preparations done, he wouldn’t go down that easily. There are only three days for Lee to defend his title and Smith to tee up at the event. Who do you think will be the better player between the two and win the trophy? Stay tuned to find out.