“This is my home event, this tournament’s always been really nice to me.

“It’s a really cool environment which is probably why I play so well, but you’ve got to go out and do it.”

Jason Day was steady but lamented a poor day with his trusty putter, the returning former world No.1 six under and needing something special in his first Australian appearance in seven years.

Defending champion Min Woo Lee couldn’t find his groove, well back at two under.

Torrential rain meant there was no play on Friday, officials reducing the event to a three-day shootout to mirror the format played on Smith and Leishman’s LIV Tour.

Smylie stayed busy on the day off though and fancies his chances of denying Smith another hometown title.

“Everything is going really well,” he said.

“Every part of my game is in pretty good shape.

“As soon as I was in tricky positions, I did a really good job getting out of it without doing too much damage.”

Leishman went the lowest in Brisbane on Sunday last year and again looms as a threat.

Both he and Smith threatened the pin on the 17th party hole, where a promotional $1 million prize for fans for any ace during the broadcast window went begging.

“We’ve had a few goes around here,” Leishman said of his battles with Smith.

“We still talk about when he bounced off that grate in the middle of a lake [in 2018].

“But that’s what happens when you’re winning.

“Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t [but] I’m playing good enough to win.

AAP