Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen made a late surge to card a five-under 66 and take the lead on day three at the Royal Melbourne on Saturday, while Rory McIlroy overcame a strange early setback to post a second consecutive 68 at the Australian Open.
Having squeezed inside the cut thanks to late birdie spurt on Friday, McIlroy got off to a curious start on Saturday, double-bogeying the second hole after his ball bizarrely settled in a banana peel in a tuft of rough right of the fairway.
Unable to remove the banana skin for fear of moving the ball and incurring a penalty, McIlroy could only advance his second shot 30 yards and wound up making a double-bogey to slip back to even par.
Have you ever seen this before?! 🤔
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 6, 2025
Rory McIlroy double bogeys the second hole after finding his ball next to a banana 🍌#AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/229POQPHct
"It was sort of a double whammy — it was in the tough grass, and under a banana skin," McIlroy said afterwards. "But I shouldn't have been there in the first place."
McIlroy did respond with a birdie on the third, though gave it back with a dropped stroke at the short seventh hole.
He birdied the ninth to complete the front nine in a one-over par 35 and, as on Friday, he finished his round with a glut of birdies, registering four in the final six holes, including on 17 and 18, to post a three-under 68.
The Masters champion sits on five-under overall, nine adrift of the leader Neergaard-Petersen, heading into Sunday.
"I'll probably be a little too far behind to try to challenge on Sunday but I will try to end the week on a positive note and shoot my lowest score," McIlroy said.
Rory McIlroy birdies the last to finish -5 ahead of the final round 📈#AusOpenGolf pic.twitter.com/WOZZ2mLgSi
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) December 6, 2025
Neergaard-Petersen, still chasing a first DP World Tour victory, birdied four of the last five holes to grab a two-stroke lead over a trio of players, including home favourite Cam Smith.
The 2022 Open Champion held the outright lead after an eagle on the par-5 14th and another birdie on the 17th, though a dropped stroke on the last saw him slip back to 12-under, alongside South Korea's Si-Woo Kim and Mexico's Carlos Ortiz.
Spain's Jose Luis Ballester is one stroke further back on 11-under, while there is an Antipodean flavour to the grouping on 10-under, with the Australian duo of Adam Scott and Min-Woo Lee joined by New Zealand's Daniel Hillier.
Additional reporting: Reuters
