Chacarra by two, Alfred Dunhill Championship..Cockerill makes cut, ...36 hole results

 DP World Tour : Alfred Dunhill Championship   Tee Times Weather Leaderboard

With round 2 well under way at Royal Johannesburg in sunny 26*c, breezy conditions the leaders at -13 are in form young South African, Jayden Schaper and overnight leader, Spaniard Eugenio Chacarra. 

Two well known Springboks, Louis Oosthuizen and Brandon Grace who both gave up the PGA/DP World Tours for the guaranteed money on the LIV are allowed to play this week because the Sunshine Tour does not ban LIV players, are in the top 5 here.

After an opening 68 Canada's Aaron Cockerill was steady eddie, out early with 14 pars, 2 birdies and 2 bogey's 72, T39 -4. With the cut projected at -3 he will play the weekend.

Last year Aaron missed 13 cuts, so rounds like today's are not spectacular, but important as he can now relax and play the way he is capable, to maintain his confidence and move up the leaderboard..

Friday recap

Eugenio Chacarra takes a two-shot lead into the weekend at the Alfred Dunhill Championship after following up Thursday's opening 63 with a stunning 66 that featured some shot-of-the-week contenders on day two at Royal Johannesburg Club.

The Spaniard began the day in a tie for the lead on -9 par but found himself well behind home favourite Jayden Schaper by the time he teed off at 11.30.

A lightning-fast start saw him close the gap, though, as he went agonisingly close to opening his second round with an albatross but instead had to settle for an eagle.

He led by one shot at the turn after adding three front-nine birdies but back-to-back bogeys on the ninth and tenth saw him slip from the summit.

But Chacarra responded by making three more birdies on the way in to reach -15  and lead by two at the halfway stage.

In-form Schaper was his nearest challenger on -13 after firing a bogey-free 64, one ahead of countryman Branden Grace and England's John Parry on -12

Chacarra said: "There's a lot of golf left. It's a course where people can go low and if you don't have your best you can go high.

"So everyone can win, there's a lot of guys out there.

"I'm just going to try to do my best, get a game plan with my caddie and I know if I execute and I play like I did these two days, I'm going to have a good chance coming out on Sunday."

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Bryan Angus (edit)

Bryan Angus

Day 1 wrap.. Alfred Dunhill Championship..Cockerill T29..Leaderboard / Tee Times / Weather

DP World Tour : Alfred Dunhill Championship   Tee Times Weather Leaderboard

Thursday's opening round at this version of the Alfred Dunhill Championship is under way in Johannesburg, South Africa, 24*c mainly sunny, breezy 10-15mph in the early going, 8-12mph in the afternoon.

Spaniard, 25 year old Eugenio Chachara had a spectacular start with 8 birdies and an eagle -9 63 for the clubhouse lead with the late wave just getting underway.

He raised eyebrows by heading straight for the guaranteed money on LIV out of college before becoming disenchanted, leaving to return to play the DP World Tour, where he won the Hero India Open last year to secure his playing privileges until 2027.

Canada's Aaron Cockerill is in the late wave on the Royal Johannesburg GC, a parkland par 72 with 3 par 5's on the outward nine 37, just 1 coming home for 35.

EDIT >>> After 2 early bogey's Cockerill made eagle 3 on the par5 8th, then birdied 4 of his last 6 holes, including 3 in a row to finish -4 68, currently T29. 

Follow the live scoring by clicking on my link above..

EDIT >>>>Final wrap up

Eugenio Chacarra played his last 11 holes in -8 to share the lead of the 2026 Alfred Dunhill Championship as he and Christiaan Burke produced the lowest ever rounds at Royal Johannesburg Club.

With preferred lies in place, his 63 did not qualify as an official course record but it left him clear of the field until World Number 713 Burke wrapped up an eventful round to join him at the summit on - 9

The pair were one shot ahead of Burke's fellow South Africans Brandon Stone and Thriston Lawrence -8 64,  after a day of low scoring as the tournament moves for this year from its traditional Leopard Creek home to Royal Johannesburg Club.

Chacarra said: “I think I played really good golf - I’d been playing really good golf last week too, it’s just how golf is, the score wasn’t there – but I trust the plan that I have with my caddie and I think we did a tremendous job. Happy with the start but it’s only the first round, a lot of golf left.”

Burke started with a remarkable run of six consecutive birdies,  “Yeah, it was really fun. Good start – always fun, a six-birdie start! It’s tough to try to (keep) the momentum after that great start, but I’m happy with how I played today.

“I only figured out after the seventh hole I made six birdies in a row! So I just took the momentum from there.  I like this golf course, I play here a lot. It suits my game and I’m just very comfortable on this golf course.”

Lawrence made his run after teeing off later in the day, with five birdies on his front nine and another three in the final four holes seeing him within one of the lead.

Three more home players, Branden Grace, Daniel van Tonder and Samuel Simpson, were tied at -7 65 with England's Brandon Robinson Thompson.

Bryan Angus

Alfred Dunhill Championship..Aaron Cockerill...Thursday TEE TIMES..

  DP World Tour : Alfred Dunhill Championship  Tee Times  Leaderboard

With DP World Tour's 3 events for 2026 already on the books, the field has flown into Joburg for the Alfred Dunhill Championship, usually at Leopard Creek across from Kruger National Park, however this year due to overuse, the  Tour has moved to Royal Johannesburg GC.

Aaron Cockerill is once again the lone Canadian and after a MC and then a T23 at the Crown Australian Open, he has qualified for the field, based on his terrific T2 Final Stage Tour School

It's early, so here are his numbers #66 Race to Dubai standings, #419 owgr.

Group 30, 1150hrs 1st  Aaron Cockerill, Daniel van Tonder RSA, Marcus Armitage, England

Next week is the final event before the Christmas break, the AfrAsia Mauritius Open.

Follow all the scoring by clicking on my links above...

Bryan Angus

Cockerill in the field for Alfred Dunhill Championship in Joburg this week

 DP World Tour : Alfred Dunhill Championship 

• Entry List

The DP World Tour continues its Opening Swing with a second visit to South Africa for the Alfred Dunhill Championship. Here are your five things to know.

A change in venue

A quarter of a century on from its inaugural edition, the Alfred Dunhill Championship returns to Johannesburg — the city where it was first staged from 2000 to 2004 at Houghton Golf Club. Following an intense summer in which Leopard Creek hosted both the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the prestigious Africa Amateur Championship, the course now takes a well-earned period of recovery.

Royal Johannesburg steps in as host, with its East Championship Course — originally designed in 1939 by Robert Grimsdell and revitalized in 2017 with new greens and strategic bunkering — widely regarded among Africa’s finest. Having staged the Joburg Open across a decade-long span from 2007 to 2017, this marks only the second DP World Tour event to be played at Royal Johannesburg.

Norris defends

Last year, home favourite Shaun Norris carded a final-round 67 to come back from six strokes back and win by one shot. 

Leopard Creek’s difficult closing stretch picked off the chasing pack one by one until only countryman Ryan van Velzen had a realistic chance of denying Norris at least a play-off.

 Locked alongside Norris as he stood at the 18th tee, Van Velzen hit his approach shot into the water and was unable to save par to help Norris clinch his second DP World Tour title and second in his homeland having won the Steyn City Championship in 2022.

 It also came hot on the heels of a return to the winner’s circle at the Golf Nippon Series JT Cup on the Japan Golf Tour. Norris came close to a second win on the 2025 Race to Dubai at the Joburg Open, losing out in a play-off, as he went on to comfortably reach the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai for the first time since his debut in 2020.

Event history

Co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour since its inception at the turn of the millennium, this year marks the 25th edition of the event.

First held at the start of the year, it moved to its December slot in 2004 and has retained its position since. Since England’s Anthony Wall won the inaugural edition at Houghton, there have been a further 19 different champions.

Of those, both South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and Spain’s Pablo Martin are multiple winners. In recent years, a trend of home winners has emerged with the last four editions all having been won by home favourites. A similar run of home champions also occurred from 2011 to 2016. Among the global winners over the past two decades and more are Adam Scott and Justin Rose, who have both gone on to since become Major champions.

Inside the field

A long-standing favourite of the world’s leading professionals, former World Number Ones, Major winners, Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup stars have all competed in the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, a champion in 2020, is joined by fellow former winners Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace, Brandon Stone, Richard Sterne, Shaun Norris and Ockie Strydom. Together they make up an impressive collection of seven of the last 12 winners of the Alfred Dunhill Championship and all are looking to become only the third multiple winners in the event’s history.

Pablo Larrazábal will form part of an impressive list of European challengers seeking to end South Africa’s dominance of this title. The Spaniard was the last European to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2019. 

John Parry finished runner-up last year, going on to finish the DP World Tour season in 11th place on the Race to Dubai Rankings, earning his PGA TOUR card for 2026. France’s Martin Couvra, the 2025 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, and Spain’s Angel Ayora are among the young emerging talent teeing it up.

EDIT>>> Also a late edition to the field after his top 25 finish at the Crown Australian Open is Canada's Aaron Cockerill who had lost his card, but was one of the stars of the Final Stage Q School T2, and is looking to bounce back after a poor 2025 saw him finish at #120 

The state of play

This week is the third and penultimate week of the Opening Swing on the 2026 Race to Dubai.

So far, we have seen a double header of events in Australia while this is the second of back-to-back events in South Africa. The opening event of the Race to Dubai saw David Puig claim his maiden DP World Tour title at the BMW Australian PGA Championship, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen became the second first-time winner in as many weeks at the Crown Australian Open.

Kristoffer Reitan, a fellow HotelPlanner Tour graduate in 2024, claimed his second DP World Tour of the year at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player. 

The triumph lifted the Norwegian to the summit of the Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World, on 665 points and 165 above Neergaard-Petersen and Puig.

There are 3,000 Race to Dubai points at play this week with 500 on offer to the winner in Johannesburg, with the same available at next week’s AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open.

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Bryan Angus (edit)

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Bryan Angus (edit)

Norway's Reitan 10 birdies leads, Taylor T20 Nedbank Golf Challenge ..Live scoreboard

 DP World Tour : Nedbank Golf Challenge Leaderboard Tee Times

Round 1 is well underway in hot sticky weather, Sun City, RSA on the Gary Player GC at this years Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Mr Player who was born November 1, 1935 celebrating his 90th season this week. ..more to follow

Kristoffer Reitan led the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player on -9 after a superb opening 63 in Sun City.

Marcus Armitage and Jesper Svensson had set the early target at -6 66, and were later joined there by Adrien Saddier, but Reitan was out on his own after a stunning round featuring ten birdies and one dropped shot.

Reitan made a flying start to his round, clipping his approach at the first to two feet and holing from eight feet at the second for back-to-back birdies.

He picked up further shots at the 14th and 15th and though the 17th brought his one dropped shot of the round after he found sand off the tee, he holed from the fringe at the last to return -9.

Reitan said: "It was a brilliant day, very, very happy the way I played. Off the tee, in towards the greens, I was happy, and a couple of wedge shots that were really good, so that was nice to see, and I was rolling the putter well. I haven't had any particularly good results in South Africa so I'm hoping to change that this week.

"So it was a great start and I'm very, very pleased.

Svensson started on the back nine and played it in -1 before his inward nine featured two superb eagles, at the second and the ninth.

He said: “It was good, two eagles with tap-ins so that’s always fun!

Armitage also started from the tenth and turned in 31 before adding a sixth birdie at the first. He moved to -8 with gains at the first and sixth only for a closing seven at the par-five ninth to leave him tied with Svensson and Saddier.

The Englishman said: "I made a lot of birdies and just had a lot of fun out there and yeah, just been a cool day.”

Saddier had six birdies in a bogey-free round and he said: "Yeah, it was good. Played solid, just missed two greens so pretty solid with the irons, so got a lot of birdie chances.

"It’s nice (to go bogey free). I didn’t do that much this year, so good to have one to start the new season. Really pleased."

Garrick Higgo and Shaun Norris were the leading home players in a group of six tied for fourth on -4 68.  Higgo said: "My putter kept me in it. It's still a long way to go, but it's a great start."

Tom McKibbin, Julien Guerrier, Thomas Detry and Haotong Li were the other players on -4 68

Canadian Nick Taylor had an eagle, birdie in his last 5 holes, T20 -2 70.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus

Three lead, McIlroy, Cockerill well behind Australian Open...18 hole results

 DP World Tour : Crown Australian Open Leaderboard Tee Times

Elvis Smylie, Ryan Fox and Carlos Ortiz shared a two-shot lead after mastering tricky, windy conditions on day one of the Crown Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.

There has been much excitement about the national open making a return to one of the world’s most revered layouts for the first time in 34 years but it was the weather rather than the Composite Course that stole the show in round one.

And it was Smylie, Fox and Ortiz who tackled them best, carding rounds of 65 to get to -6 and lead the way from Cameron Adam 67, Clement Charmasson 67 and Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen 67 -4

Smylie, a winner on home soil during last season’s Opening Swing at the BMW Australian PGA Championship overcame an opening bogey with seven birdies and he was the man to set the early target.

Kiwi Fox then made eight birdies to join him at the summit before Mexico’s Ortiz eagled the 17th to catapult himself to the top of the leaderboard.

Smylie finished the 2025 Race to Dubai as the top-ranked Australian and continued to star on home soil after narrowly missing out on dual membership with the PGA TOUR.

A lucky bounce on the first was followed by another gain on the third, with a lengthy putt on the seventh extending his lead and a birdie on the eighth giving him some breathing room.

“It was really solid round, 65 round around Royal Melbourne, the first round of an Aussie Open would be great,” he said.

“I don’t think I need to start pushing and fighting the wind. I think like I did today, just kind of take your moments, knowing when to attack the flags and when to pull back.

"Obviously I’m not really sure what the conditions are going to be the next three days, but everyone’s in the same boat and just try and keep doing what I’m doing.”

Fox made his mark on the international stage in 2025 with two wins on the PGA TOUR including the RBC Canadian Open, adding to his four so far on the DP World Tour.

“I would've taken even par today,” he said. “This golf course is tricky enough. There's obviously a lot of trouble, especially with all the crosswinds. It's pretty wide off the tee for the most part, if you hit the right club, but with all the crosswinds, you can get yourself in a lot of trouble.

“So I was very happy I managed to stay away from all the bad stuff today and holed a couple of putts early and sort of kept me on my way and hung on through the middle, through the really tough stretch of holes there, and then took advantage of the par fives and a couple of good wedge shots coming home.”

Last week’s top-25 in Brisbane came on Ortiz’s first start in a regular DP World Tour event and he has brought his momentum south, adding six birdies and two bogeys to his eagle.

"You had to respect the golf course and I think I did a great job on that," he said. "We planned it around, we just tried to put in play, be smart, hit greens, and we were lucky enough to make some good putts."

Neergaard-Petersen had a breakout 2025 as he earned dual membership but he is still searching for a first DP World Tour win and an eagle, four birdies and two bogeys gave him a solid start -4 67.

England’s Eddie Pepperell is back on Tour via the HotelPlanner Tour and he fired a -3 68 to sit three back alongside Australian trio Corey Lamb, Stephen Leaney and Wade Ormsby and Kiwi Daniel Hillier.

South African Michael Hollick made the third hole-in-one of the season on the seventh to sit in a 14-strong group at -2, three clear of Masters champion Rory McIlroy T57 +1 72 who said he was happy to "limit the damage" as Royal Melbourne bared its teeth, as the beauty became a beast as high winds made scoring very difficult in Victoria.

And with that in mind McIlroy, who is seeking an "amazing" end to the year which saw him become a Grand Slam champion, was not displeased with an opening 72.

"It's tricky. Very, very tricky," he said. "Greens are getting firm. It was a good thing they didn't cut them today, it would've been unplayable.

"I felt like I could have shot under par or shot something in the 60s but it doesn't look like anyone's going to get too far away today.

"So I limited the damage and hopefully conditions are a little better over the next few days and could make a run.

"I think the putter was hard and then it's just hard to get the ball close.

"When you can't get it that close and then you're just trying to two-putt those sort of longer putts, it's hard to make up any ground.

McIlroy was out at 7.05am in a stellar group with local heroes Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott and despite the hour, the fairways were lined with spectators.

"I made enough birdies, but I just need to limit the mistakes a little bit but it felt OK. It was good to get one round done and not feel like I'm too far back. It's amazing. I think the welcome has been so warm and yeah, it's been a pleasure to be here and hopefully I could just play a little bit better over the next three days."

EDIT >>> Canada's Aaron Cockerill back on DP World Tour for his 5th straight year after T2 at the Final Stage Q School, MC last week at the Aussie PGA, and struggled in the conditions on his front nine +4 38, however he settled in coming in with 8 pars, a birdie -1 36 T105 74 +3.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)