Summary
Rory McIlroy, the golfer from Northern Ireland, had an unusual encounter with a banana peel caught in a tree during his third round at the Australian Open, where he carded a 68, 3 under par. Despite his good performance, he is nine strokes behind the leader, Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who shot a 66 at 14 under par.
Cam Smith, the 2022 British Open champion, also stood out, carding a 66 to tie for second place, just two strokes behind the leader. On the second hole, McIlroy missed the fairway, and his ball ended up under a small tree and a banana peel, apparently discarded by a spectator. The rules allow loose obstacles to be moved as long as the ball is not displaced in the process. However, in attempting to hit his ball through the peel and branches, it only traveled about 30 feet, resulting in a double bogey.
“It was kind of a double whammy: I was on tricky grass and under a banana peel,” McIlroy said. “But I shouldn’t have been there in the first place.” Despite this setback, the Northern Irishman birdied the next hole and, after a bogey and another birdie, finished the front nine at 35, 1 over par.
Key details
On the back nine, played in steady rain, McIlroy carded four birdies, including the last two, repeating his performance from Friday. “I didn’t start well, but I played well from there,” said McIlroy, who recorded five birdies in his final ten holes. “I’ll probably be too far out to compete tomorrow, but I’d like the course to hold firm… if that happens, I think I could shoot something really low, like 8 or 9 under par.”
After a series of missed cuts, Smith said with a touch of sarcasm, “It’s nice to be in contention.” “It’s been a while since I’ve had this feeling, to be honest,” he added. “I love that it’s the Australian Open. I couldn’t think of a better place to get back to my best. That would shut some people up.”
McIlroy, who had claimed in a pre-tournament press conference that Royal Melbourne was not the best sand course in the city, had a tumultuous first round on Thursday, carding six bogeys and five birdies. This is his first Australian Open since 2015, having won the tournament in 2013. The winner of the Australian Open, which is the second event on the European Tour's new schedule for later this year and 2026, will earn an exemption to next year's Masters, and the top three players not already exempt will qualify for the 2026 British Open at Royal Birkdale.
