Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen sank a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.
It wasn’t without a nervous moment, however. After making his putt to cap a round of 70 and finish at 15-under, Neergaard-Petersen had to wait for home-crown favorite Cam Smith to miss his putt for par before he could start celebrating the one-shot victory.
It was the first win on the DP World Tour for Neergaard-Petersen, who sealed a place in the field for the 2026 Masters Tournament, fulfilling his childhood dream of playing at Augusta National.
Neergaard-Petersen opened the day with a two-shot lead but couldn’t gain any traction on a round that consisted of four birdies and three bogeys at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
After both players made birdies at No. 17, Neergard-Petersen found the long grass right of the green on the par-4 18th hole.
Neergaard-Petersen, from Denmark, was able to hole out. Working from the left side of the green, Smith three-putted for a bogey.
“I’m really at a loss for words,” Neergaard-Petersen, 25, said.
“It’s been a battle all day. From the outside, sometimes you can look calm but there was a storm inside all day today.
“But I managed to just keep battling and then to get it up and down from there to make that putt on the last, I don’t really know what to say, to be honest.”
Neergaard-Petersen saw his lead vanish after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 9 and 10, with Smith up two strokes. But three birdies on the final eight holes — Smith played even par in the stretch — gave the Dane the win.
Smith finished with a 69 to move him to 14-under and in second place, one stroke ahead of South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (70).
“It’s one of those things I feel like I’ve done the other couple of days — I’ve been able to finish well,” Neergaard-Petersen said.
“So I always had that belief that if I just keep trying to hit my spots, eventually the putts were going to drop and I was going to be able to get some of those shots back.”
South African Michael Hollick fired a 65 to finish 12-under and in fourth place, one stroke ahead of Australia’s Adam Scott (70).
With their placement in Melbourne, Kim, Hollick and Scott earned entry in the 2026 Open Championship. For Scott, it marked his 25th consecutive season of qualifying for all four majors.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy, the top-rated player in the field, shot a 69 on Sunday to finish seven strokes behind the winner and in a tie for 14th place. It marked his return to the tournament after several years away.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said following his round. “I’ve been excited to come back down here for a while.
“Obviously it’s been over 10 years since I played in the Australian Open. … Just look (at) the scenes out there this week. The crowds, the golf course, they were absolutely incredible.”
–Field Level Media
