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Jun 14, 2025; Oakmont, Pennsylvania, USA; Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen chips on the second green during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images <\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\nRasmus Neergaard-Petersen sank a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n After both players made birdies at No. 17, Neergard-Petersen found the long grass right of the green on the par-4 18th hole. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n Neergaard-Petersen, from Denmark, was able to hole out. Working from the left side of the green, Smith three-putted for a bogey.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n “I’m really at a loss for words,” Neergaard-Petersen, 25, said. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n “It’s been a battle all day. From the outside, sometimes you can look calm but there was a storm inside all day today.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n “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.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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).<\/p>\n<\/section>\n “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. <\/p>\n<\/section>\n “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.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n South African Michael Hollick fired a 65 to finish 12-under and in fourth place, one stroke ahead of Australia’s Adam Scott (70).<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n 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.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n “It’s been absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said following his round. “I’ve been excited to come back down here for a while.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n “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.”<\/p>\n<\/section>\n –Field Level Media<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n