The 2025 Australian Open ended in dramatic fashion at Royal Melbourne as Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen claimed his first DP World Tour victory, denying local hero Cameron Smith in a heartbreaking finish.
With the score tied at 15 under heading into the 72nd hole, Smith looked set to finally win the Stonehaven Cup when his approach found the green, while Neergaard-Petersen fired his second shot into a thick rough space between bunkers.
What followed was pure theater as the Dane lofted a daring chip to 15 feet and nervelessly drilled the par putt, pumping his fists as the ball fell. Smith, needing one and a half meters to force a play-off, missed on the left and left the home crowd stunned.
Neergaard-Petersen called the shot ‘one in a hundred’, and admitted that that lie made him think his chances were slim.
“I always had the belief that if I kept hitting my spots, eventually the putts would fall.”
For Smith, the heartbreak was palpable. After draining a clutch birdie at 17 to stay level, the Queenslander walked to the last to deafening cheers, seemingly in control.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling, to be honest,” Smith said earlier this week. “I love that it’s the Australian Open. I couldn’t think of a better place to get back into shape”
But his three-putt bogey extended Australia’s national championship drought to seven years.
“We’ve all been there,” Neergaard-Petersen said sympathetically. “He is a class act and it was great to be with him today.”
The victory marks a remarkable rise for the 26-year-old Dane, who took part in the HotelPlanner Tour just twelve months ago. Now he’s a DP World Tour winner, has secured a 2026 PGA Tour card and has earned an invitation to Augusta for The Masters.
“The Masters is the event I watched so many times as a kid, I just dream of playing it, so to be able to do that is amazing,” Neergaard-Petersen said.
He also becomes the first Dane to etch his name on the Stonehaven Cup. Si Woo Kim finished third on 13 under, while Adam Scott’s solo fifth earned him a spot in next year’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale
Royal Melbourne provided a fitting stage for this showdown, with the glitter of the sand belt and swirling wind demanding creativity. The galleries were huge, buoyed by the return of Rory McIlroy and a Sunday audience of more than 33,000 people.
McIlroy summed up the week perfectly.
“The crowds, the golf course, they were absolutely incredible… I can’t wait to come back next year.”
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