Rod Pampling has led home the Australian challenge at the Valspar Championship with a strong final round seeing him climb 13 places up the leaderboard.

The 47-year-old was one of only two Australians to make the cut at the difficult Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort, a Sunday 69 seeing him to a T41 finish.

Fellow Queenslander Cameron Smith also qualified for the weekend but battled to over par scores in each of the final two rounds to slip down the standings.

Pampling went 3-under over his final nine holes Sunday, an impressive comeback after a mini collapse late on day three.

The veteran came to the final three holes Saturday with some momentum after recovering from a poor front nine with back to back birdies at the 11^th and 12^th.

But the famed ‘Snake Pit’ at the Florida course took its toll on Pampling, the three-time TOUR winner posting three consecutive bogeys to finish his round.

Smith also struggled over the closing stretch Saturday with two dropped shots in the last three holes.

The promising Queenslander continued a recent pattern of mixing good golf with clumsy mistakes, offsetting 13 birdies with 14 bogeys for his 1-over total.

While he has missed just two cuts for the season his best finish in 2017 has been T27 though he looks on track for a good week soon.

Seven Australians began the week but all found the going tough on what is traditionally one of the more difficult courses on the PGA TOUR.

Greg Chalmers and Aaron Baddeley both missed the cut by a single stroke, Chalmers after making a frustrating bogey at the final hole of his second round.

Former champion John Senden never found his touch early in the week and missed the cut by four shots as did fellow Queenslander Steven Bowditch.

Geoff Ogilvy endured a horror first round which included dropping seven shots in just two holes Thursday.

The 2006 US Open winner dumped two balls in the water on his way to a quintuple bogey eight at the par-3 13^th and also notched a double bogey at the par-5 7^th.