Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen claimed the Australian Open for his first significant professional title Sunday, clinching victory with a scrambled par on the final hole that dashed hometown favorite Cam Smith’s hopes of ending his two-year win drought.
The drama peaked at the 72nd hole with both players tied at 15-under. Neergaard-Petersen shanked his drive into tough rough on the right with a bunker between his ball and the green. Smith found the green with his second shot but faced a long, sloping putt to the hole.
Staying composed as he had all week, Neergaard-Petersen got up and down for par while Smith missed his difficult birdie putt, then shockingly missed a 1.5-meter return putt that would have forced a playoff.
The 26-year-old Dane finished at 15-under 269 with rounds of 67, 66, 66 and 70. Smith, who began the final round two shots back, drew level by the turn and briefly led after sinking a three-meter putt for birdie on the 10th.
After another birdie at the 11th, Smith bogeyed the 12th, leaving him level with Neergaard-Petersen at 13-under. The pair remained locked together until Smith’s missed par putt on the final hole handed his opponent a career-changing victory.
“It’s hard. I’m really at a loss for words. It’s been a battle all day,” Neergaard-Petersen said. “Even from the outside, you can look calm but it was a storm inside all day.
“But I managed to keep battling and to get it up and down to make that putt on the last. I don’t know what to say, to be honest.”
Smith, the 2022 British Open champion, had just ended a streak of seven consecutive missed cuts on Friday. He shot 66 on Saturday to put himself in contention.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling to be honest,” Smith had said before the final round. “I love that it’s the Australian Open. I couldn’t think of a better place to get back into form. It would shut a few people up.”
Smith has won the Australian PGA twice but has yet to claim the Stonehaven Cup as his national open champion. His last tournament victory came at the LIV tournament in Bedminster in August 2022, and his previous top-10 finish was in July.
Rory McIlroy finished in a tie for 10th after a final-round 69 that included five birdies and three bogeys. His tournament included 11 bogeys over four days, including a bizarre encounter with a banana peel on Saturday that kept him from seriously contending.
McIlroy calls for better slot for Australian Open
McIlroy, who won the Race to Dubai and completed his career Grand Slam at the Masters this year, was making his first appearance at the Australian Open since 2015. He won the tournament in 2013.
After his final round, the world No. 2 advocated for a more favorable schedule to attract more top players.
“I obviously would love to have a few more players come down and play, but it’s hard with three tournaments going on in the schedule this week,” McIlroy said, referring to the schedule clash with Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas and the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.
“There need to be conversations had with people much more important than me that set the schedules, and hopefully the Australian Open can find a date that accommodates everyone and everyone can at least have the option to come down.”
“People seeing the scenes here on TV…it’ll definitely pique their interest,” he added.
The Australian Open serves as the second event on the European tour’s new schedule of tournaments for late this year and 2025. The winner receives a Masters exemption next year, while the top three finishers not already exempt — Michael Hollick, Adam Scott and Si Woo Kim — have qualified for the British Open in 2025 at Royal Birkdale.
