Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen produced a late charge on Saturday, carding a five-under 66 to take the outright lead at Royal Melbourne, while Rory McIlroy battled back from an early mishap to record a second straight 68 at the Australian Open.
After narrowly making the cut thanks to a late birdie burst on Friday, McIlroy’s round took a surreal turn at the second hole. His ball came to rest on top of a banana peel in thick rough right of the fairway, an obstruction he couldn’t move without risking a penalty. Forced to hack the ball forward only 30 yards, he walked off with a double-bogey and dropped back to even par.
“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.”
He recovered quickly with a birdie on the third, though he handed it back at the par-3 seventh. A birdie at the ninth steadied his momentum before he closed in style, making four birdies in the final six holes, including crucial gains at 17 and 18, to sign for a three-under 68.
The Masters champion now sits at five-under overall, nine shots behind leader Neergaard-Petersen heading into Sunday. “I’ll probably be a little too far behind to challenge on Sunday, but I’ll try to end the week on a positive note,” he said.
Neergaard-Petersen, still seeking a first DP World Tour victory, birdied four of his last five holes to establish a two-stroke advantage over a chasing group featuring Cam Smith, Si-Woo Kim and Carlos Ortiz. Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester sits one shot further back, while Adam Scott, Min-Woo Lee and Daniel Hillier remain firmly in the mix at ten-under.
