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Ross McGowan barely survived the cut and as the odd man out had to play the third round of the Australian PGA Championship by himself.

That time alone to think must've helped because the English bolter, who's plied his trade on the secondary European Challenge Tour this year, now has a place in tournament history.

The 36-year-old carded a course record 63 at Royal Pines on Sunday, his nine birdies in a bogey-free round propelling him from two under to the clubhouse lead.

He nailed a testing putt for par on the 18th to go a shot better than Jordan Zunic's third round last year but could've been even better after a putt lipped out on the ninth.

"There's always a few missed opportunities, isn't there. I played lovely today," he said.

Zunic was eyeing a sub-60 round at one stage last year but that was never in McGowan's calculations.

"Not around this place, no, this place is brutal," he said.

"I'm really happy to shoot nine under and didn't really see a score like that out there but when I hit a few irons close and made the putts, it made life a little easier."

He said he was happy enough with his form on the Challenge Tour this year, having played solidly in the occasional European Tour tournaments he had contested this year.

McGowan was four shots off leader Marc Leishman as the Victorian rounded the turn but thought twice about toasting his efforts straight away.

"I feel like a beer but I'm not sure that's going to be the route to go just yet," he said.

"Yeah, I'll probably watch a few holes and I guess get some lunch first and see what's going on."

Tiger Woods risks coming last in his own tournament, trailing the field going into the final round of the star-studded Hero World Challenge in The Bahamas.

Woods needed some late birdies to salvage an even par 72 but trails joints leaders Henrik Stenson, John Rahm and Tony Finau by 11 shots in the 18-man field.

"It's definitely not alarming, for sure," said tournament host Woods, in his first 72-hole event since winning the Tour Championship.

"I just haven't played clean."

Finau fired a 67 to get to 13-under 203, catching Stenson and Rahm who both had 69s.

When I'm playing well, I feel like I can score on any golf course, especially a course that has five par 5s," said the long-hitting Finau.

Australian No.1 Jason Day wasn't much better off than Woods after a 70 left him tied for second-last at three under.

Stenson and Finau are going for their first victory of the year, even though this holiday event is not attached to any tour and is considered unofficial except for the world ranking points, which are more than four of the domestic events in the fall on the PGA Tour.

Finau did everything right except win this year, including his first Ryder Cup appearance. Stenson has won at least once around the world in five of the last six years.

Winning is always nice," said Stenson, a runner-up to Hideki Maruyama two years ago in the Bahamas. "It never gets old no matter how big or small the tournament. You can't say that this is a small tournament given the field. Who you're playing against is obviously going to give you a nice boost if you managed to win it."

Gary Woodland, who was over par toward the end of his opening round, had a 67 and suddenly is only two shots behind. Rickie Fowler also had a 67, and suddenly the defending champion is back in the mix at three shots behind.

Cameron Smith says he's playing the best golf of his life as he prepares for a final-day Australian PGA Championship shoot-out with Marc Leishman.

Australia's World Cup teammates last week in Melbourne, the pair will partner each other in Sunday's final round at Royal Pines after defending champion Smith shot a five-under 67 to again master the Gold Coast course on moving day.

Smith (14-under) has a three-shot lead over Leishman, with Australasian Tour player of the year Matthew Millar and 2016 champion Harold Varner III equal third at seven-under.

Smith's bogey-free round grew legs with a birdie on nine, having just settled for par when an eagle beckoned on the short par-four eighth.

Leishman birdied the 10th but found a fairway bunker in bogeyed the 11th before both men nailed their approaches to the 12th and left with birdies.

But when Smith made a long birdie putt on the 13th, he had a three-shot lead.

That extended to four with a birdie on the par-3 16th party hole but was erased when world No.21 Leishman returned serve on the 17th.

Smith (70, 65, 67) said earlier in the week he had taken a leaf out of Leishman's book by playing within himself and he agreed on Saturday it had helped him avoid any sticky situations so far.

Happy to see he's taken that mentally on board, Leishman is banking on a hot day with the putter to earn his first Australian title and stop Smith going back-to-back for the first time since Robert Allenby in 2000-01.

"I'm not annoyed at that, I'm happy to help him out," he said.

"I would love to beat him when he's playing very well and he'd love to beat me when I'm playing well."

Greg Norman (1984-85) and Ken Nagle (1958-59) are among the select few others to win back-to-back Kirkwood Cups but, despite a pause when asked, Smith said that history wasn't weighing on his mind.

"I'm just going to go out here tomorrow and do what I have been doing the last couple of days," he said.

"It's been some of the best golf I've ever played; I'm feeling really confident."

Sunday's gallery could be in for a treat if the pair stay clear of a chasing pack that couldn't keep up on Saturday afternoon.

"If I was a few back with nine to go and I'm four or five in front of third, then I can afford to be a bit more aggressive," Leishman said.

"Where I'm at in my career, I can do that anyway. I play to win ... I've never been one to lay up.

"Hopefully I'll get a hot putter and take it up to him."

Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson are the joint leaders with a one-shot lead after the second round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.

After a disappointing opening round of 72, Rahm hit nine birdies in the best round of the day to move to 10 under par.

"I missed one fairway, I believe (and) that's only because they put a patch of rough in the middle of the fairway on four," the Spaniard said.

"Didn't seem like much could go wrong. If I'm hitting really solid drives and have short irons in, it's hard not to be aggressive."

Sweden's Stenson followed up an opening round of 68 with a 66 that included seven birdies and a bogey.

"Putting has been really solid these first couple of days, short game as well, a lot of good up-and-downs," said Stenson. "A couple of wishy-washy shots, but all in all, in good shape."

Overnight leaders Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay had mixed fortunes on the second day.

Cantlay is a shot behind the European pair after signing for a 70 while Reed dropped down the leaderboard following a round of 77 that included three bogeys and a double bogey.

Dustin Johnson moved to within a shot of the leaders with a round of 67 while Tony Finau carded a 64 to complete the top five.

Australia's Jason Day shot an even par round to be one-under, nine shots adrift of the leaders.

Tiger Woods is tied for 14th after shooting a three-under round for a two-under total, but was lucky not to have been penalised.

Woods avoided a penalty for hitting the ball twice while in a palm bush right of the 18th fairway.

He took a short back swing and tried to punch the ball back into play but questions arose whether the ball stayed on the club too long.

PGA Tour officials reviewed the shot chief rules official Mark Russell said only when they used high-definition replay in slow motion were they able to detect Woods hit the ball twice.

Woods said he didn't feel the club make contact more than once.

Tiger Woods has avoided a penalty for hitting the ball twice because of an 18-month-old rule that limits the use of advanced TV replays.

Woods was in a palm bush right of the 18th fairway Friday in the Hero World Challenge when he took a short back swing and tried to punch the ball back into play.

Questions arose whether the ball stayed on the club too long, and PGA Tour officials reviewed the shot.

Chief rules official Mark Russell says only when they used high-definition replay in slow motion were they able to detect that Woods hit the ball twice.

"Looking at in the regular speed on a high definition television, you couldn't tell that at all," said Russell, the PGA Tour's vice-president of rules and competition.

"But when slowed it down to ultra-slow motion, high definition television, you could see where the club did stay on the club face quite a bit of time, and it looked like he might have hit it twice. But there's no way he could tell that."

Woods says he didn't feel the club make contact more than once.

The decision from May 2017 says penalties are not applied when a violation could not reasonably be seen with the naked eye.

A Cameron Smith masterclass has set up a dream Saturday pairing with Marc Leishman and brought his Australian PGA Championship defence to life on the Gold Coast.

Smith systematically worked over Royal Pines in carding a seven-under 65 on Friday, moving him to nine-under for the tournament and one ahead of Leishman and Jake McLeod.

Victorian Leishman replicated his Thursday 68, while Dimi Papadatos (seven-under) had briefly held the lead and will wage war with Saturday playing partner McLeod for the Order of Merit spoils.

Like fellow overnight leader McLeod, West Australian Matt Jager didn't fade and only a bogey on the last - after a birdie on the party hole 16th - separated him from the Townsville product.

Smith took Friday's honours though, mixing seven birdies with a bogey through his first 10 holes to wipe aside a frustrating first-day 70.

While cursing himself for not getting to 10-under, Smith's no-fuss showing has set up a showdown with a fellow Queenslander he knows well from their days on the junior representative scene.

"Jakey and I, we've been in state teams together, fiddled around at home, QAS trainings, everything," he said of the talent one year his junior.

"Jakey's a good boy, love playing with Jake.

"There's so many guys that I grew up playing with who were all really good and it's good to see a few of them doing well."

Healthy crowds followed Smith and his playing partner Andrew 'Beef' Johnston and were rewarded when the Englishman chipped in for a memorable birdie on the rowdy 16th party hole.

Johnston saluted the bar and threw his ball into the crowd as his moved to five-under and into the conversation despite dropping to three-over after three holes and contemplating early retirement on Thursday.

World No.21 Leishman was ominously rock solid again, avoiding disaster with a nice save over trees while balancing on the lakeside edge on the 12th.

Overnight leader McLeod, who started the day six-under, birdied his first hole then exploded on the back nine with back-to-back birdies and a monster eagle putt to give him clean air at 11-under.

The NSW Open winner, Order of Merit leader and Australian Open third place-getter followed with a bogey and then dropped two more shots when he narrowly went out of bounds on the 17th.

Champion in 2016, Harold Varner III (seven-under) was the big early mover on Friday morning with three straight birdies.

Play begins at 6.30am on Saturday, with Smith and Leishman to tee off in the last group at midday.

Dimi Papadatos stopped short of calling it karma.

He prefers to credit his resurgence this month to a good attitude and a bit of hard work.

The New South Welshman could have crawled into a hole after a luckless disqualification in the secondary Challenge Tour Grand Final in the United Arab Emirates earlier this month.

Papadatos had unwittingly used a club he had slightly damaged in frustration earlier in the round and was no sooner on a flight home after alerting officials to his innocent mistake.

It cost him a shot at a full European Tour card but he would earn that access anyway with a win or even a good result at the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines.

And on Friday he put himself in the picture, shooting 70 to move to seven-under and take the lunch-time lead on the Gold Coast.

Papadatos snuck to five-under on Thursday afternoon and mixed two bogeys with four birdies in mild conditions to set the marker for the afternoon groups.

It follows his second at last week's Australian Open, which earned him a start at the British Open next year.

A win or top-end finish on Sunday could also see him claim the Order of Merit, which itself comes with a European Tour card.

"I've had a few disappointments in my career and I've just learnt the longer you worry about it, the worse it gets," he said.

"Maybe not karma; you've still got to get the job done and make your own luck definitely in this game.

"But I suppose it was good to turn around as quick as I did.

"I had a bad couple of weeks, it could have been a bit worse off, but it was nice to bounce back quickly."

Managed by former NRL player Braith Anasta, Papadatos has enlisted the help of tour pro Rod Pampling's psychologist wife Angela.

Enjoying being home after a hectic run of events across Europe and Asian, the Portugal Open champion thinks he's every chance this weekend.

"As soon as I came home I caught up with my coach (Gary Barter)," he said.

"It's tough when I'm over in Europe not getting to see him as much as I would like, but coming home and having him help me out's made a big difference."

Harold Varner III has given himself a chance to win another Australian PGA Championship - the difference this time would be that he gets to brag about it to Michael Jordan.

The former champion is walking the Royal Pines fairways this week in Air Jordans and is only man on tour in Jordan Brand apparel.

Having become close friends in recent years, Varner is looking forward to catching up with the NBA legend this Christmas.

"I'm sure he knows," Varner said when asked if Jordan was keeping tabs on his Gold Coast effort.

"I haven't spoken to him. I see him every Christmas. I'm sure he knows, has an idea."

Varner won on the Gold Coast in 2016 after losing a play-off for the title a year earlier.

And he finished sixth at Royal Pines last year to continue a charmed run in Australia that could continue after he shot back-to-back rounds of 69 entering the weekend.

Three straight birdies got things going early on before a double-bogey after over-shooting a par three to find water saw him relinquish the lead.

A neat par save and a chip-in birdie later in the round helped him to within one shot of the early Friday leaders.

The 28-year-old is still chasing a breakthrough PGA Tour win but says his good memories in Queensland aren't something he leans on every time he returns.

"I think I'm a lot better player right now than I was a couple years ago," Varner said.

"(The 2016 win) gives me confidence, but it's in the past. It has nothing to do what's going to happen this week."

Patrick Reed and Tiger Woods are about as far apart as can be on the leaderboard after one round of the Hero World Challenge.

Only they know how close they are after the Ryder Cup fallout.

Reed showed no sign of fatigue in his travels from Dubai to Hong Kong to the Bahamas in successive weeks, making birdie on three of his last five holes Thursday for a seven-under 65 and a share of the lead with late-entry Patrick Cantlay.

Australia's Jason Day is in a tie for 10th in the elite 18-man field after a frustrating opening round of 71 that included six birdies and five bogeys.

Woods was never under par at any point and opened with a 73, eight shots behind, tied for 16th.

Reed's comments after Europe won the Ryder Cup still follow him.

In a phone interview with The New York Times hours after the loss, Reed blamed Jordan Spieth for them not playing together, US captain Jim Furyk for twice leaving him on the bench and he made it sound as though he was stuck with Woods as a partner in Paris.

"We spoke after the Ryder Cup for a long period of time," Woods said.

"We talked among us and it will stay between us."

This is one time Reed held his tongue.

After his eighth and final birdie in balmy weather at Albany Golf Club, he acknowledged nothing more than they had talked.

"Whatever I talk about with other players and other guys stays between the guys," Reed said.

He also said he hasn't spoken to Furyk, and Reed told the New York Post on Tuesday that he hasn't spoken to Spieth, but that Spieth has his number.

"It's been I don't know how many weeks (since the Ryder Cup), but in the golf world, it's been a long time," Reed said.

"All of us on our side have moved past that. Basically, when the tournament was over, all of us moved past it and we're just kind of getting ready for hopefully two years."

But there's a Presidents Cup in between, next December in Australia, and while the intensity is not the same, the team concept is intact.

A classy John Senden has copped his dose of misfortune on the chin after an air swing at the Australian PGA Championship on the Gold Coast got the golf world talking.

Sitting at two-under after eight holes, Senden didn't make contact with his driver on the ball after the shaft flexed and snapped in the grip on his downswing, pinching him in the process.

The rare sight, which left Senden off balance and wringing his right hand, stunned commentators and led to a long discussion with the rules official.

As social media lit up with vision of the incident, Senden appeared to argue unsuccessfully that, on feeling the club snap, he attempted to pull out of the shot.

It was a view shared by playing partner and fellow Australian veteran Geoff Ogilvy, who expressed his disgust when the rules official suggested the air swing would count as a shot.

Without another driver in his bag, the former PGA Tour campaigner was forced to remove the tee, drop the ball on the tee box and hit an iron.

There was no penalty but the shot counted as Senden's second and he went on to record a bogey on a par-five ninth hole that produced seven eagles and rated as the easiest of the day.

With Senden's spare shafts in Brisbane he was forced to use a three-wood for the remaining 10 holes, which he navigated well until a bogey on the last for an even-par round.

"Unfortunately that counts as one stroke," he said post-round.

"I've seen it happen before to other players but first time it's happened to me in a tournament," he said.

"It actually spooked me a bit.

"I jammed my finger ... pinched it a bit and I was feeling quite the discomfort and had to learn how to go with the three wood from there."

Senden laboured in the scorer's hut but emerged without complaint.

"There's no exception, it's just the rule, you can't argue against the rule," he said.

"When you intend to hit a shot and you don't hit it it's one stroke, that's the way it goes."