Norway's nervous Reitan holds on to win Nedbank Challenge.. Final Results

    DP World Tour : Nedbank Golf Challenge Leaderboard Tee Times Results

Kristoffer Reitan held off playing partners Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury on a nerve-shredding final day of the 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player to secure his second DP World Tour title.

Reitan began the day with a commanding five-shot lead but left the door wide open for the chasing pack as he struggled for consistency and fought his nerves.

The Norwegian mixed four birdies with three bogeys on the front nine to hold a four-shot lead at the turn but, as he parred the first five holes of the back nine, Schaper and Bradbury closed the gap to two.

Reitan piled further pressure on himself as he bogeyed the 15th to sit just one clear but managed to hang in there, parring his way home to close out a wire-to-wire victory by one shot.

His level-par 72 saw Reitan finish the tournament on -17 under par, one clear of home favourite Schaper and Englishman Bradbury at -16 to add a second DP World Tour crown to the one he won at the Soudal Open in May.

He has only been out of university for just 2 1/2 years, a remarkable achievement.

He said: "I don't know what I'm feeling right now. I had a lot of nerves today.

"But to get it over the line in the end is a better feeling than I can describe.

"I'm trying my best to deal with nervousness, fear. It's really, really difficult. I've managed to do that really well ever since mid-season last year.

"It just keeps getting increasingly more difficult, but I'm glad to have dealt with it in a good way and get this over the line. That means so much. I'm so pleased.

"I've been feeling nervous all week, to be honest, but it just kept getting increasingly more. And today was a different story.

"I'm just really glad to get it over the line and to get the courage to hit the shots that I needed to hit down the stretch here especially."

Reitan has enjoyed a stellar 2025, earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR after a season in which he won his maiden DP World Tour title in Belgium.

He added: "I'm very proud of myself. Very proud of my whole team as well. I'm very demanding and they help me out the best that they can. Just ask my caddie!

"But yeah, I'm definitely proud of myself and I'm happy to be able to say that."

EDIT >>> Reitan won over $1,200,000 for this event, once billed as the first million dollar winner's cheque in the world, and called by the organizers "Africa's Major" 

Meanwhile earlier in the day Denmark's Neergaard-Petersen won Australia's national championship with a cheque for just over $300,000, which is what the 5th place paid in Sun City. 

The prestige of both events is enormous, the money is not even close, which may be part of the reason that Rory McIlroy signed on to play the Australian Open for two years.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Neergaard-Petersen wins Crown Australian Open...Cockerill T23..Scott qualifies for Open ..Final Results

   DP World Tour : Crown Australian Open Leaderboard Tee Times Results

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen saved his best until last as he fought off the challenge of Major Champion Cam Smith to claim his maiden DP World Tour title at the 2026 Crown Australian Open.

Neergaard-Petersen began the day with a two-shot lead but was tied with home favourite Smith as the pair made their way down the 18th.

After missing the green, the Dane faced an uphill battle to save par but he rose to the challenge, getting up and down courtesy of a nerveless ten-foot putt to pile the pressure on Smith's par putt.

And with Smith unable to find the cup, Neergaard-Petersen celebrated a one-shot victory, the latest chapter in his remarkable story.

The 26-year-old finished the week on -15 after signing for a closing 70 which contained four birdies and three bogeys.

Smith was alone in second on -14 under, one ahead of South Korea's Si Woo Kim in third -13.

Neergaard-Petersen is no stranger to the winner's circle, having tasted victory three times on the HotelPlanner Tour in 2024 on the way to topping the Road to Mallorca Rankings.

But despite enjoying a remarkable 2025 season on the DP World Tour to earn dual membership with the PGA TOUR, he was not able to win.

He entered the final round with a two-shot advantage but saw his lead evaporate in the early stages as he bogeyed the fourth.

Neergaard-Petersen regained the outright lead with a tap-in birdie at the sixth but surrendered two more bogeys on the ninth and tenth to sit two strokes behind Smith at the start of the back nine.

A long-range birdie at the tough 12th led to a two-shot swing as Neergaard-Petersen grabbed a share of the lead once more before birdieing the 13th from close range to hit the front on his own.

After his tee-shot at the 14th landed under the trees on the right side, Neergaard-Petersen did well to save par but was caught at the top as Smith made birdie on the same hole.

With both Neergaard-Petersen and Smith finding birdies at the 17th, there was nothing to separate the pair with one hole remaining.

But Neergaard-Petersen produced a big finish when it mattered to win and earn his spot at next year's Masters Tournament.

He said: "I'm really at a loss for words.

"It's been a battle all day. From the outside, sometimes you can look calm but there was a storm inside all day today.

"But I managed to just keep battling and then to get it up and down from there to make that putt on the last - I don't really know what to say, to be honest.

"It's one of those things I feel like I've done the other couple of days - I've been able to finish well.

"So I always had that belief that if I just keep trying to hit my spots, eventually the putts were going to drop and I was going to be able to get some of those shots back.

"The Masters is the event I've grown up watching so many times, just dreaming of playing it.

"Getting to do that is awesome. It's gone by so fast. I don't feel like it's been two and a half years since I've been out of college. I haven't even been a pro for that long.

"To get the win here at my final event of the year was the only thing missing from a perfect year. I'm so happy."

EDIT>>>> His 1st prize of 193,209 euros is approximately $311,000 cdn dollars, a pittance compared to purses on the PGA Tour, however once again you can see the emotion of winning, no matter how much or little they play the game.

EDIT>>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill ended his fortnight down under strongly. After a MC at the PGA and an opening 74 this week, he shot 68 to make the cut on the number, followed by 67 to get into the top 25, then battled back today with 3 straight birdies at the 15th 16th and 17th to sign for 70 and a T23 finish to begin his 2026 season.

Also it was great news for evergreen Adam Scott who will return to The Open Championship for the 26th year in a row after punching his ticket to Royal Birkdale along with Si Woo Kim and Michael Hollick at the Crown Australian Open.

There were three spots available at Royal Melbourne to players not already exempt as part of the Open Qualifying Series, with Kim finishing third, Hollick fourth and Scott fifth to claim them.

Scott has played in the last 97 straight Major Championships, while Hollick will be making his Open debut.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

"Catch me if you can" Reitan, Nedbank Golf Challenge..54 hole results

   DP World Tour : Nedbank Golf Challenge Leaderboard Tee Times 

Kristoffer Reitan will take a commanding five-shot lead into the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player after shooting a stunning 67 in the weather-affected third round in Sun City.

Reitan, who secured his maiden DP World Tour title at the Soudal Open in May this year, produced a brilliant burst of scoring around the turn on Saturday to build an eight-shot lead before play was suspended for just over two hours in the late afternoon due to thunder and lightning in the area.

When the action resumed at 17.45 local time, the Norwegian parred the 16th and 17th but closed his round with a double bogey after getting into trouble at the 18th.

Despite the disappointing finish, he sits at -17 with 18 holes remaining and in pole position to claim a second victory of the calendar year and his first of the 2026 season.

Reitan began the day with a one-shot lead before following up a fine birdie at the second with an eagle on the ninth to sit four clear at the turn.

The 27-year-old kept his foot on the gas as he started the back nine, reeling off four birdies in five holes from the tenth to reach -19 before the hooter sounded shortly after his group had completed the 15th hole with the Dane 8 shots ahead.

And he made a good up-and-down immediately after the resumption to keep his card clean but found the penalty area with his second shot at the 18th and dropped two shots there to give the field a chance, come Sunday afternoon.

Home favourite Jayden Schaper was Reitan's nearest challenger on -12 after making eight birdies and two bogeys in his 66.

South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and England's Dan Bradbury were two shots further back in a tie for third at -10.

He said: "I'm very disappointed with the finish on the 18th, but I guess a good double in the end. It's just clear evidence that if you don't hit it in the right spots, then you can get severely punished.

"But overall, good today. I think I got out of some tricky situations - I did that well. I think longevity wise, I think hitting it just that little bit better would be good. But overall, with the score today, I'm happy.

"I think I did a good job. I hit some good shots, but also when I was out of position, hit some good shots there as well to get me out of trouble.

"And my putter was rolling nicely as well. It's kind of weird because the round just goes into a blur at this point. It's a long time since we teed off, but yeah, a lot of good stuff today.

"I look forward to waking up in the morning and starting the day off fresh. It's a cool challenge that I have ahead of me. I'm looking forward to that and hope to deal with it in a decent manner."

EDIT>>>> Canada's Nick Taylor can chalk this week up to experience after accepting the invitation to fly to Sun City. He is T23  70 72 71 -3, a double bogey, bogey at 14 and 16 when he was in contention at -5 on Friday, scuttled his chances.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Eight contenders, Cockerill T29, Australian Open, 54 hole results, TEE TIMES

   DP World Tour : Crown Australian Open Leaderboard Tee Times

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Crown Australian Open after producing a big finish on Saturday.

The Dane closed his third-round 66 with a hat-trick of birdies, holing some lengthy putts along the way, to reach -14 and sit two strokes ahead of a world-class chasing pack consisting of home favourite Cam Smith, South Korea's Si Woo Kim and Mexican Carlos Ortiz all -12.

Spain's Jose Luis Ballester was alone in fifth another shot further back -11 after firing a flawless 65. 

Also in the hunt at -10, Adam Scott 68, Min Woo Lee 69 will all be chasing the Dane on Sunday.

Neergaard-Petersen, who is searching for his maiden DP World Tour title, shared the lead at the halfway stage and hit the front on his own when he holed a long-range birdie putt at the second.

After starting the back nine with a bogey, the 26-year-old birdied the long 14th before knocking in his 12-foot birdie effort at the 16th to join Smith at the top of the leaderboard.

He followed that up with another birdie from around 15 feet on the 17th before a 32-foot birdie at the last handed Neergaard-Petersen a two-shot advantage at the summit.

Neergaard-Petersen is riding high on confidence after earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR at the end of last season and he could be in for another life-changing day on Sunday as he bids to secure a first win on the DP World Tour.

He said: "I felt like I stayed true to my plan all week, which has been to stay patient. I'm really happy with the finish. I've been able to finish well here over the last couple of events, even in rounds, so it's nice to finish off well today.

"I was able to roll in a couple of putts in the last three."

Rory McIlroy feels he has what it takes to shoot a low final round at the Crown Australian Open but does not know whether that will be enough to trouble the leader. The World Number Two finished his roller-coaster -4 68 with back-to-back birdies at Royal Melbourne on Saturday to reach -5

That leaves Northern Irishman McIlroy nine shots off the lead held by Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen heading into the final round and he suspects the gap may be too big to close with just 18 holes left to play.

He said: "With the lead at -14, I think I'll be a bit too far back.

EDIT>>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill continues to improve after an opening 74 he shot 68 to make the cut on the number, then added 3 birdies and a hole out eagle 2 for -4 67, T29th.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus

Norway's Reitan holds 36 hole lead ..Nedbank Golf Challenge....Sat TEE TIMES

 Kristoffer Reitan retained his lead at the halfway stage of the 2026 Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player as Adrien Saddier mounted a strong challenge.

Reitan followed his spectacular opening 63 with a -3 69 to reach -12 for the tournament, one shot clear of Saddier who eagled the second to kick-start a round of 67.

Saddier's fellow Frenchman Julien Guerrier shared third place on -9 with Christiaan Bezuidenhout - the leading South African, two shots ahead of Garrick Higgo and Daniel van Tonder.

Reitan said: “Pleased about that, happy with the bounce that I got and happy to keep the momentum up a little bit with that birdie on the last. Not a great feeling to make those back-to-back bogeys so it’s good to bounce back with a birdie on the last."

On his round overall, he said: “Pretty happy, to be honest. Started off pretty well in my opinion but struggling with the approach shots, is how I quickly review it, which give you a little bit of trouble.

“Some good short game, which saved me a few times, and towards the end I could feel how difficult it was once the approach shots weren’t really co-operating.

“Tough course but happy to finish off strong with a birdie at the last and it’s a good overall score so, happy.

 Saddier did not make his first bogey of the week until his 34th hole and he said of Friday's round: “Yeah, it was a nice day, pretty hot start. Just a pity about the finish but overall a good day, yeah.

“The second shot on two, it was quite lucky because I didn’t expect to reach the green, to be honest, I was playing to just land 10 short of the green and have an easy chip, and it went pretty hard up the face.

“Nice result, nice three – bit lucky but we’ll take it!

Guerrier, who tied for sixth in this tournament last year, said: “Very happy about my day, my iron game was much better than yesterday.

“I like it when it’s a difficult course. I made two good rounds, last year I played well and I played well (here) also in the past."

Higgo and Van Tonder were tied with South Korea's Junghwan Lee and England's Andy Sullivan on seven under with another South African, Jayden Schaper, a shot further back.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Nick Taylor T10 early rd2 Nedbank Golf Challenge...Live scoreboard...

  DP World Tour : Nedbank Golf Challenge Leaderboard Tee Times

Round 2 is well underway at Nedbank Golf Challenge in Honour of Gary Player, in Sun City RSA.

The leader continues to be Norway's Kristoffer Reitan who began at 63 -9 and currently is at -12 approaching the turn.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canada's Nick Taylor opened with 70, is now T10 -5 through 13 holes..

More to follow.....

Bryan Angus

Cockerill, McIlroy make cut Crown Australian Open, 36 hole results, TEE TIMES

  DP World Tour : Crown Australian Open Leaderboard Tee Times

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and new DP World Tour member Daniel Rodrigues are in a share of the lead after the second round at the Crown Australian Open, with a stellar chasing pack in close pursuit.

After high winds made scoring challenging in the opening round at Royal Melbourne, conditions proved more favourable on Friday with a host of low totals over the world-renowned Composite Course.

Denmark’s Neergaard-Petersen followed up an opening 67 by going one better to reach -9 with Rodrigues of Portugal – a recent graduate of the Qualifying School – joining him after carding a -7 64 for the low round of the day.

They lead the way from Australia’s Min Woo Lee who is one adrift at -8 after a 65 that included a hole-out eagle, with his countrymen Adam Scott and Cam Smith along with Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz two back -7 at the halfway point.

Neergaard-Petersen is riding high on confidence after earning dual membership with the PGA TOUR at the end of last season's Race to Dubai and is targeting a maiden DP World Tour title this week.

"It's been a couple of really good days," he said.

"I thought yesterday I stayed really, really patient and was able to put together a nice finish and then today I got off to a really good start and I think from there pretty much I hit a lot of really good golf shots, gave myself a lot of chances and was able to convert some of them.

Rodrigues is a new name for many having come through all three stages of DP World Tour Qualifying School to earn his playing privileges for the first time this season.He was in a tie for 33rd at last week's BMW Australian PGA Championship.

"It was really solid," he said. "It was really good. I think a -7 65 at Royal Melbourne is going to be good either way.

"It was a little bit of a rough start on six, but I made it actually a really good putt for bogey and gave me some confidence for the rest of the round and it was very good."

Asked how he is finding the initial adjustment to life on the DP World Tour, the Texas University graduate added: "Well, so far so good. I think the start in Australia has been awesome.

"It's a little bit different than what I was used to, but it's good and I'm glad I'm here."

Adam Scott, who was playing alongside Lee and Rory McIlroy in the headline three ball of the opening two rounds, made an eagle at the par five 14th for the second day in a row alongside four birdies and one bogey to post a 66.

World #2 McIlroy birdied three of his final four holes to safely progress through to the weekend at -2, with last week's winner David Puig among those to miss the cut at level par.

McIlroy said “I certainly haven’t had my best stuff over the last couple of days, but it was nice to finish the way that I did.

“It wasn’t looking great after the bogey on 14… but overall, a great finish [and] delighted to be here for the weekend.

“Seven isn’t too far back. I feel like if I can go out tomorrow morning and shoot a good one, I can get myself right back into the tournament."

edit>>>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill improved by 6 strokes 74 68 to make the cut E on the number, a relief after missing the cut last week.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)