Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (-15) has achieved an extraordinary victory at the Crown Australian Open, closing his fantastic year on the DP World Tour. The 26-year-old Danish golfer opens his account of wins on the circuit (having won three times on the HotelPlanner Tour), conquers one of the most prestigious tournaments on the calendar, secures his position in the overall standings for the new season, and, in the process, earns a ticket to the next edition of the Masters Tournament. All this after finishing the 2025 season by securing one of the ten PGA Tour cards distributed by the Race to Dubai.
His title also came with an almost cinematic finish. He started the final round at Royal Melbourne leading the leaderboard by two strokes. However, a poor start to the final round, combined with the push from Cameron Smith (-14), who was determined to win his country’s open, placed him second on the leaderboard after the 10th hole, where he made his third bogey of the day. But when the situation seemed most challenging for him, he found a way to turn it around and demonstrate his immense talent.
On holes 12 and 13, he made two extraordinary birdies to regain the lead. From there, he engaged in a true sprint race with the captain of the Ripper GC from LIV Golf to take the initiative in the tournament. Both reached the par-five 17th hole tied, with South Korean Si Woo Kim (-13) in their same group as the only other contender still in the fight. A tremendous duel began there, which Smith seemed to have first lost and then won, only to ultimately succumb to a magnificent Neergaard-Petersen.
The Dane, leaving the ball on the first cut of the green with his second shot, putted for eagle. It narrowly missed, but he made a birdie that should have given him the advantage going into the 18th. But the Australian avoided it with an incredible recovery from over thirty metres, in a spectator area, completing it by sinking a five-metre putt for birdie, keeping the contest alive until the end. Kim, meanwhile, played the final flag with a one-stroke deficit that still allowed him to dream of a playoff.
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and Cam Smith go down the 18th tied for the lead ⚔️#AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/KrmlTrbaPW
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 7, 2025
The issue this Sunday at Royal Melbourne, beyond some slightly annoying gusts of wind at the end, was the pin positions. The organisers took great care to place them in extremely challenging spots, turning each birdie into a small miracle. On the closing hole, its location was so complex that only two players managed to birdie in this final round of the tournament, Rory McIlroy (-7), who finished tied for 14th, was one of them.
Rasmus did not want to be conservative. He was facing his big opportunity. He played a risky shot from the fairway aiming for the flag. However, he found a rough area between two bunkers protecting the hole. Kim had no choice but to go all out and ended up in the sand. And Cameron, seeing the situation, preferred not to take any risks and aimed left, to the centre of the green, leaving himself a very long putt. He believed that two putts would be enough to secure victory in front of his home crowd.
The South Korean was ruled out after failing his bunker shot. And then came the first masterful stroke from the Dane, recovering from the tall grass to leave himself a five-metre putt for par. The Australian, from the back of the green, read the pronounced left-to-right break of his shot perfectly and left himself a putt of just over a metre and a half, with which he seemingly had all the chances to win. But at the last moment, a twist of fate left him ‘stunned’.
Rasmus sank his putt and celebrated it grandly, clenching his fists. He had secured at least a playoff. A sudden death that never came because Cameron, with everything in his favour, missed to the left, committing a bogey that crowned his opponent. A sensational victory for a young golfer who, after his brilliant tied 12th place this year at the US Open and with his participation in the Open Championship of 2026 already secured, will also have the opportunity to compete at Augusta National.
WHAT A PUTT! 🤯
The moment Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen claimed his first DP World Tour title at Royal Melbourne 🏆#AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/DH3L2mwvVC
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 7, 2025
“I knew the putts were going to drop, I just had to keep playing the same way,” confessed the visibly emotional Dane after his triumph. “I’m so nervous right now that I can’t even remember the shots I’ve hit,” he said when asked about specific details of his round. It was no wonder… He had just achieved his first trophy on the DP World Tour, a title with extra value: “It means the world to me, I’ve dreamed so many times of being able to play the Masters that it’s incredible. Everything is happening so fast… Two and a half years ago I was finishing university, and now I’m here, in the last tournament of the season, closing a perfect year.”
The natural year-end in this second tournament of the 2026 season has also been perfect for Si Woo Kim, who, despite his final bogey, secures one of the three spots for the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale that the tournament awarded, for South African Michael Hollick (-12), who claims the second, and of course, for Australian Adam Scott (-11), who takes the third and final spot and continues his quest for 100 consecutive major appearances, something only Jack Nicklaus has achieved (he currently has 96 in a row, 98 in total).
However, Scott left Spanish Josele Ballester (-10) with a bittersweet feeling, as he did not have his best day at Royal Melbourne, but still had a ‘match-ball’ to secure the ticket to the British. With 15 pars and a bogey in the first 16 holes of his final round, things had become difficult for the player from Castellón, who couldn’t leave himself clear birdie opportunities and was always putting from a distance. His first and only success of the day came at the 17th, but failing to make the eagle left him with one foot out of the Open.
The Spaniard needed a birdie on the 18th, where his second shot wasn’t particularly precise, leaving him with a 20-metre putt. He couldn’t sink it, and with the big prize already lost, he also missed his second putt, closing the day with another bogey for a round of 72 strokes that dropped him to sixth place, tied with Daniel Hillier (-10). A great result nonetheless for Josele, who hasn’t dropped out of the top 10 in his last three appearances and shows he can compete on both power courses and more technical layouts.
Rafa Cabrera Bello (-5) and Rocco Repetto (-5), with 70 and 68 strokes this Sunday, finished tied for 23rd position. Sebastián García (PAR) fell to 51st place with a round of 75 strokes. Meanwhile, Quim Vidal (+2), with 73 strokes, was tied for 59th. All far from the week’s great winner, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who was crowned the new champion of the Australian Open with a Sunday round of 70 strokes, one under par, earning a passport to the Masters.
