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With his honeymoon on hold, Anthony Quayle is making the most of the delay as he attempts to win an Australian PGA Championship seven days after getting married.

The Gold Coast product moved to eight-under and a shot back from shock overnight leader Yuan Yechun thanks to five birdies in the last six holes in a Friday round of 66 at Royal Pines.

Married at nearby local club Sanctuary Cove last Sunday, the Quayle honeymoon won't officially start until they jet to Europe on Boxing Day.

But he said he's treated the tournament like a holiday anyway, with surprising results.

"Any opportunity like this, you just enjoy it and have a little bit of fun," he said.

"Obviously getting married on Sunday, this week is a little bit of a holiday for me.

"I plan to keep it that way, just keep having a little bit of fun with it."

Starting on the 10th tee, Quayle got going with an eagle on 15 but said the moment of his round came on two holes earlier when an eight-metre putt saved par despite him finding water off the tee.

He credits his resilience for a testing season in Japan, which started slowly but finished with him qualifying for the tour's year-end championship.

"I don't want to ever shy away from how I struggled earlier this year," he said.

"That is part of why I am who I am ... I just think going through that has made me a lot tougher at the moment mentally."

Cameron Smith surged back into contention for a third-straight Australian PGA Championship but he wasn't the only big mover on Friday at Royal Pines.

The Brisbane product had a bogey-free round of 65 to shoot to five-under - four shots back from shock leader Yuan Yechun - after beginning his defence with a "rubbish" 74 on Thursday.

His masterclass followed Adam Scott's five-under 67 earlier that day, a performance that handed the former world No.1 a share of the clubhouse lead at seven-under alongside Wade Ormsby before Anthony Quayle stormed home with 66 to go to eight-under and into outright second.

China's Yuan bested them all though, equalling Smith's round-of-the day effort to move to nine-under despite throwing in two bogeys in the last four holes.

The world No.374 will be the rabbit Smith and Scott chase this weekend as the former attempts to become the first man in more than 100 years to win three-straight Australian PGA titles.

Smith admitted last week's President Cup had drained him both physically and mentally but that an afternoon nap and swim at the beach had helped him bounce back from Thursday's torrid start.

"I knew what I had to do today to get back into it, I saw Scotty and those guys posted a score early," he said.

"I didn't play aggressive or anything, just did my stuff and walked away with seven birdies.

"It was tough yesterday, (because it was) so draining last week ... it's amazing what a day can do in the game of golf."

Beginning on the 10th, Quayle eagled the 15th and then finished with five birdies on his last six holes.

A good result would cap an incredible week for the Gold Coast local, who was married last Sunday.

Ormsby led by as many as three shots early in the day before Scott tracked him down in another safe round that featured a 12-metre eagle putt, two more long birdies and just one bogey.

The pair are long-time friends and featured in a dramatic play-off at the Australian PGA Championship in 2014 eventually won by Greg Chalmers.

Chasing his first title in almost four years, Scott shot a five-under 67 on Friday but it could've been even better if any of his near misses dropped on a day where tricky pin placements meant aggressive golf was often too risky.

"I played safe, rolled a lot of nice putts, a lot went by the edge but I made a couple as well," he said.

"I had to really dial it in to get it close and ... it was a patient round and eventually I kind of wore the course down.

"After the bogey on four I just felt 'I need to get moving a bit here because two-under's not going to put me up there far enough."

ROUND TWO LEADERBOARD

9-under - Yuan Yechun (70, 65)

8-under - Anthony Quayle (70, 66)

7-under - Adam Scott (70, 67), Wade Ormsby (68, 69)

6-under - Michael Hendry (70, 68), Tom Power Horan (72, 66)

5-under - Bryce Easton (71, 68), Cameron Smith (74, 65)

Min Woo Lee's fanbase continues to grow after the emerging talent impressed playing partner Adam Scott on a tricky opening day at the Australian PGA Championship.

The younger brother of Australian women's No.1 Minjee is just one shot off the pace - but two better than Scott - after a four-under 68 on the Gold Coast.

Lee was two-over through five holes, but the European Tour's longest driver this year regained his composure to storm home and impress the former world No.1 and Masters champion in Scott.

The 21-year-old only became a professional in January, but has quickly turned heads, out-driving Jason Day and enjoying a private coaching session with Tiger Woods.

You can now add Scott to his admirers after the pair went toe-to-toe at Royal Pines on Thursday.

"That's what I liked most about; he's got a pretty swing and hits it a long way, but it was good to see him kind of compose himself," Scott said.

"He hung in there for a few holes after his poor start and then he composed himself and got on a bit of a roll there nicely.

"That's good qualities to see out there because, like I said, it was easy for it to really get away from you today if you just were a little bit off."

Lee rued his "rookie pro" opening five holes but said he lapped up the chance to play with Scott and fellow major winner Stewart Cink (70).

"Just a bit rushed early on ... but I'm a bit of a fighter, so it was nice to start off bad and then come off good," Lee said.

"I think early on I didn't really take the opportunities because there's a big crowd and I'm not really used to it.

"It was pretty calm (conditions) this morning, so hopefully tomorrow morning you can go out there and shoot a low score."

Lee finished two positions outside of the top 115 golfers who automatically for a full European card for next year.

He instead earned partial rights after finding the water on the penultimate hole of the Portugal Masters.

But Lee could well and truly earn his berth with victory at Royal Pines, an Australian event co-sanctioned with the European Tour.

Lucas Herbert and Brett Rankin shared the overnight lead after morning rounds of 67, with Lee one of 13 players within two shots.

Scott (70) putted well to stay in the mix, while two-times defending champion Cameron Smith (74) needs to lift to feature on the weekend.

Adam Scott is ready to "rip the front nine apart" on Friday after holing clutch putts to stay in touch on day one of the Australian PGA Championship.

Two-times defending champion Cameron Smith (74) struggled, but Scott (70) sits just three shots behind early pace-setters Lucas Herbert and Brett Rankin, who opened with five-under rounds of 67 in placid morning conditions at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast.

A flat Smith - aiming to become the first man in more than 100 years to win the tournament in three consecutive years - battled all day to finish two-over and in danger of missing the cut.

But a long-range eagle putt and a longer birdie putt ensured Scott - the 2013 champion and marquee man - remained in the hunt for his first tournament win since February 2016.

Like Smith, Scott also threw in a double bogey when he found the water off the tee on the 13th hole.

But he made two long putts, for birdie and eagle, either side of that and had earlier left another long birdie putt dangling on the lip of the cup.

The 2013 Masters champion arrived on the Gold Coast frustrated that his consistency hadn't been rewarded with a title for almost four years.

Twice this year he finished runners-up.

But his Thursday efforts gave him confidence that title drought could be remedied by Sunday afternoon.

"I'm putting good ... I'm playing good; unfortunately I really mis-hit that drive off 13 and it cost me two (shots)," Scott said.

"Other than that it was pretty much stress free; I was very happy with it because it wasn't very easy out there.

"Not playing well, you could be over par quite easily and leave yourself with a lot of work to do, but it leaves me in a great spot with hopefully light winds tomorrow morning to come out and rip the front nine apart."

Scott's playing partners Min Woo Lee (68) and former British Open champion Stewart Cink (70) also managed the trickier afternoon conditions well, but couldn't quite match Herbert and Rankin's efforts earlier in the day.

That leading pair finished seven shots clear of Smith, who admitted he lacked energy after an emotional Presidents Cup campaign in Melbourne last week.

The Brisbane product was even at the turn but the wheels fell off in a three-hole stretch that included a double bogey and two bogeys.

Smith overshot the green on the par three second hole and then needed two chips before missing the bogey putt.

The defending champion then hit a tree with his second shot on the next hole but managed to find two birdies on the way home to give himself a fighting chance of featuring on the weekend.

"It's always hard coming off the back of something emotionally charged like last week," Scott said.

"There were times out there just reminding myself to really focus in and play hard ... because some soft golf wouldn't have been good this afternoon."

Lucas Herbert's refined, happy-go-lucky approach is working wonders on the Gold Coast as the emerging talent learns how to best combine work and play.

The Victorian shares the overnight lead with Brett Rankin after his five-under 67 in the first round of the Australian PGA Championship on Thursday.

Herbert went birdie-birdie-eagle to begin his round in still conditions, before throwing in three bogeys in an eventful first nine holes.

He added four more birdies to be faultless after the turn and take advantage of the conditions before Royal Pines' traditional breeze picked up later in the day.

His efforts couldn't be topped in the afternoon, with Min Woo Lee and Wade Ormsby among five men one shot back, and Adam Scott lurking at two-under.

Herbert, usually one to plot a precise path through every round, said he was hardly aware of his score.

"I usually set little targets numbers-wise, but I really didn't today, just kind of just let everything go and just enjoyed being out there," he said.

"That was consuming my mind rather than the score."

It's a refreshing approach for a talent who admitted a season in Europe had taken its toll and thoughts of walking away altogether had crept in.

A barnstorming final nine holes earned him a top-15 finish at the France Open to secure full European playing rights next season.

Importantly, it allowed the 24-year-old to return home early.

A hand ligament injury has healed well after impacting his Australian Open tilt, in what has been another educational year on the tour.

"You can't just be golf, golf, golf 24-7; you've actually got to concentrate when you need to and you've got to switch off when you need to," Herbert said.

"That's probably the big takeaway for me.

"So I'll probably go shopping this afternoon or we'll go go-karting or something.

"It just keeps everything fresh, helps you enjoy the golf."

A fatigued Cameron Smith hopes some beach therapy and a sleep-in can spark something after his quest for a rare Australian PGA Championship three-peat nosedived on Thursday.

The Brisbane golfer shot a two-over 74 at Royal Pines that could have been worse if not for two face-saving birdies on the way home.

Smith is seeking to become just the second man - and first in more than 100 years - to win three-straight PGA titles.

But he sits seven shots behind the morning's pace-setters Lucas Herbert and Brett Rankin (five-under) and admits he's struggling to find energy after an emotional Presidents Cup campaign finished in defeat less than a week ago.

"I'm just tired ... just a long couple weeks and it was as easy as it's going to get out there this morning, so it was pretty disappointing to shoot what I shot," he said.

"I don't feel like I have enough energy to go to the range (after his round), so I think I'm going to go have a nap and then, I don't know, maybe go down to the beach."

It was a 3am wake-up call for the two-time defending champion, who scraped through the first nine holes at even par before "the rubbish started to come".

Smith's resistance fell away on the par-three second hole, missing the green long and then needing two chips on his way to a double bogey.

He threw that ball into the lake in disgust but things didn't improve as Smith struggled to bounce back from an impressive showing at last week's Presidents Cup.

After going right with his next tee shot, the Brisbane product had to retreat when his second effort deflected backwards off a tree, albeit luckily onto the fairway and not into the water.

A bogey was the result, followed by another on the fourth before Smith recovered valiantly in a round that finished with a narrowly-missed eagle putt on the ninth.

He'll return in the afternoon group on Friday well rested and optimistic he can feature on the weekend.

"It was tough, I had no idea to be honest (what went wrong), got not excuse," he said.

"I think it will just be all fun and games (on Thursday afternoon), trying to forget about the round and come out tomorrow with a fresh mind."

Nearly four years without a title means Adam Scott has arrived on the Gold Coast hungry to win, even if he can't stop thinking about another Presidents Cup that got away.

Scott will start favourite to take out a second Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines - marginally ahead of two-time defending champion Cameron Smith - from Thursday, just days after his Internationals were run down by Team USA in Melbourne.

A consistent year has seen the 39-year-old's world ranking rise from 41 to 18 ahead of the season finale at Royal Pines.

But the former No.1 and 2013 Masters champion says titles are his currency and that he's annoyed at himself for not converting his consistent form into more of them.

"The rankings only matter to get you into tournaments ... I'm not necessarily motivated to be the No.1 player in the world as much as I'm motivated to win a major championship," the 2013 Australian PGA champion said on Wednesday.

"Absolutely I felt like ... a couple of these slipped away so it would be nice to rack up a few more wins down here and leave a strong legacy in the Australian game."

Scott won back-to-back events in the United States in February 2016 and, despite two runner-ups among nine top-10 finishes this year, hasn't been able to add to his 13 PGA Tour trophies since.

"It's frustrating because there have been some weeks where I've had the chance (to win) and it hasn't happened and it's hard to find where I've put the foot wrong," he said.

"Someone just played better and that's annoying ... it just means I've got to lift my game a bit higher.

"A breakthrough win this week can carry me a long way into next year ... Augusta (April's Masters) is only a few months away now."

Scott is still grappling with another Presidents Cup loss - his eighth-straight defeat since debuting in a 2003 tie in South Africa.

He and fellow Queenslander Smith enjoyed mixed campaigns, Smith winning his Sunday singles against the fancied Justin Thomas but Scott losing to Xander Schauffele as the Internationals surrendered their 10-8 lead on the final day.

"I was sure, waking up Sunday morning, that was not going to be the result," Scott said.

"I was stunned ... once that American train gets running it's strong.

"I look forward to hopefully having another chance in a couple of years."

Scott has been niggling Smith ever since though, happy to stand in the way of history as the defending champion aims to become the second man - and first in more than 100 years - to win three-straight Australian PGA titles.

"Obviously Cam's had a good run here, but that's got to come to an end at some point and I'm sure it's not just me, there's 100-plus other guys that would like to do it this week," Scott said.

NOTABLE TEE TIMES (AEDT)

7AM (10th tee): Cameron Smith, Cameron Champ, Ryan Fox

7.40AM (10th) Peter Senior, Andrew Dodt, Zach Murray

MIDDAY (1st): Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Stewart Cink

12.30PM (1st): Greg Chalmers, Steven Bowditch, Rod Pampling.

It isn't often that Ryan Fox concedes distance off the tee, but the in-form New Zealand hope is happy to laugh it off as he chases more important things at Gold Coast's Australian PGA Championship.

Fox was statistically the European Tour's longest hitter last year but will struggle to match American Cameron Champ - the PGA Tour's undisputed drive king - when the pair tee off at Royal Pines with two-time defending champion Cameron Smith on Thursday.

While hoping to "just get one over him", Fox said the weekend would be more about securing the Australasian order-of-merit victory than winning an impromptu longest driver competition.

"I've seen him on the driving range, it's seriously impressive and I have a feeling I'll just be laughing tomorrow," he said.

A merit win for the year's top money earner on the Australasian tour comes with it a European Tour card, as well as a start at the British Open and invitations to World Golf Championship events in Mexico and the United States.

Fox, a winner at February's World Super 6 in Perth, currently leads Zach Murray by nearly $75,000, with Brad Kennedy about $90,000 adrift in third.

Fox already has a place secured on next year's European Tour, meaning that component of the prize would slide to the next-highest money earner if he does finish on top.

But berths at the big events are what Fox is chasing, meaning he'll be keeping an eye on his rivals this weekend.

"They're nice to be in, the ones you want to play and I've got a bit of work to do this week to make sure I get that top spot," he said.

"But I'm in a pretty good position; a few guys have to play very, very well to get me."

ORDER OF MERIT STANDINGS

1 - Ryan Fox $295,029 (four events)

2 - Zach Murray $220,940 (six events)

3 - Brad Kennedy $204,671 (four events)

4 - Wade Ormsby $153,124 (three events)

5 - Aaron Pike $119,946 (seven events)

Earning an Olympic berth is next on the list for Hannah Green, who began the year with humble golfing goals but finishes it with the Greg Normal Medal.

The 22-year-old was a popular winner of the country's top golf honour at Tuesday night's ceremony on the Gold Coast.

Her nerveless wire-to-wire victory as a relative unknown at June's Women's PGA Championship broke a 13-year major drought for Australian women.

The country's third female major winner after Karrie Webb and Jan Stephenson then proved it was no flash in the pan, storming home to win the Portland Classic in September.

The latest honour comes after fellow West Australian and current world No.9 Minjee Lee became the first woman to win the medal last year.

"It's been huge, quite unexpected," she said.

"Talking with my team at the start of year, we didn't have any goals to win championships so it's been a tiring year in a sense, but for great reasons.

"I've got more attention on me and more pressure; it's been fun, like a roller coaster journey."

Green, now on the cusp of the world's top-20, has signed with management giant IMG in a move she says will help narrow her focus on a 2020 season that could include an Olympics.

Top-10 fixture Lee is in the box seat to claim one spot, while Green would also be assured a berth if she improves seven spots to occupy a place inside the world's top 15 by the June 22 cut-off date next year.

A berth is still likely even if she doesn't improve her ranking early next year and Green, who has already been fitted for her Olympic uniform, won't need convincing to make the trip to Japan.

"I don't know if I believe it should be in the Olympics, but if I have the opportunity to represent my country and possibly win a gold medal I definitely want to be there," she said.

Green knows any success in Tokyo would further enhance the profile of golf for women in Australia, something she's been mindful of well before meeting mentor Karrie Webb at the 2015 US Open.

"It was the first time I'd met her and seen her play in person and got to know her ... since then she's been an idol and a big sister," Green said.

"I'm more motivated than I ever have been because I know what it (winning titles) tastes like and want to have it again."

Hannah Green's breakthrough season has been recognised with the Greg Normal Medal for Australia's best golfer.

The 22-year-old has a world ranking to match her age following a wire-to-wire women's PGA Championship title and follow-up victory at the Portland Classic.

Her major win broke a 13-year drought for Australian women and was enough to land Green the country's top golfing honour at Tuesday night's gala dinner on the Gold Coast.

"It probably wasn't expected from myself or my peers that I would win a major as my first event and to go back two months after and win another one (tournament) it just shows that you never know what can happen with golf," she said.

Green's victory follows fellow West Australian Minjee Lee's, who was the first woman to win the award and currently sits ninth in the world rankings.

Green said they had Karrie Webb to thank for their rise.

"When I was young I didn't really look up to too many people," Green said.

"Karrie (Webb) became my idol when I went to the 2015 US Open. That was the first time I'd ever met her and seen her play in person.

"I got to know her not as Karrie Webb the golfer but as Karrie Webb the person ... since then she's been an idol and a big sister."

GREG NORMAN MEDAL WINNERS

* 2019 - Hannah Green

* 2018 - Minjee Lee

* 2017 - Marc Leishman

* 2016 - Jason Day

* 2015 - Jason Day.