Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who earned his PGA Tour card this season, started Sunday with a two-shot lead but watched it vanish early after a bogey on the 4th. He clawed back to the lead with a birdie on the 6th, but nerves started to show.

The Danish pro bogeyed the 9th and 10th and fell two shots behind home favorite Cam Smith, who birdied the 10th. The seesaw ride continued till the 72nd hole, where they both arrived at 15-under. Smith was on the 18th green in two, while Rasmus’s approach shot landed in fescue near the greenside bunker.

However, a glorious chip left the Dane barely 12 feet from the hole. Meanwhile, Smith’s long birdie attempt stopped within five feet. One held his nerve from there; the other couldn’t. Rasmus saved par with a clutch 12-footer, but Smith two-putted for a bogey, handing the 26-year-old a one-shot win.

Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen let it all out after sinking the final putt. His scream will literally give you goosebumps. With this victory, Neergaard-Petersen:

Bigger picture: Si Woo Kim picked up a solo third; Adam Scott bagged a solo fifth. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy, after fighting with tea-tree, banana peel, and whatnot, settled for a T14, along with Min Woo Lee. The Ulsterman called for a more favorable schedule so that more top players can tee off in Australia. Right now, the Australian Open collides with the Hero World Challenge and the Nedbank Challenge.

Besides the Australian Open, here are three moments from the Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC), you might’ve blinked and missed this week.

Absolute nuts: Viktor Hovland was hitting balls on the range, all focused. But he forgot one tiny detail: a pack of nuts left unattended in his golf bag. A monkey, however, had spotted the loot. And this is what happened next — look at Hovland’s reaction to the ‘monkey business.’

Ingenious: On Friday at the NGC, Haotong Li had the gallery buzzing with his audacious bunker play. Forget the sand wedge, the four-time DPWT winner used his putter to get out of the no-lip bunker. No, it’s not madness, but method. Check out the result of that innovative shot to understand what we mean.

Little intruder: You’ve seen dogs running away with golf balls after a putt. You’ve seen bears forcing round cancellation. But why should big animals have all the fun? So thought the tiny little caterpillar that was cruising right in front of Marcus Armitage’s ball like it owned the entire bunker. Armitage probably didn’t wanna get his hands (or scorecard) dirty, so he called the referee, Mats Lanner, to take charge. Let us make your day better with the most hilarious video of the week (the commentary keeps getting better with each second).

PGA Tour Champions: At the Skechers World Champions Cup, Team Europe racked up 230 points, leaving Team International trailing with 213½ and Team USA scraping together 204½. This fresh event mixes sixsomes, sixballs, and singles between Champions Tour pros. Colin Montgomerie stole the show, scoring 21 points in the singles. The boozy celebrations afterward proved that age is just a number. You MUST watch it for Miguel Angel Jimenez’s entry with a cigar alone.

DP World Tour: Kristoffer Reitan shut the curtains at the Nedbank Golf Challenge with a 17-under. He almost blew the five-shot lead after making three bogeys on the front nine and barely held a one-shot lead by the 15th. But he steadied the ship and held off Jayden Schaper and Dan Bradbury to earn the bragging rights and book his first Masters trip. He might have been prepared for the victory, but certainly not for the way the locals celebrated with him, as you can sense from his face here.

LPGA Q-school: Trouble teed off early for aspiring golfers at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying in Alabama. As they swung to secure one of the 25 coveted 2026 LPGA Tour cards, bad weather wiped out the first round. With the third round suspended due to darkness yesterday, the LPGA was forced to take a tough call. Learn all about that here. 

Yes, there were plenty of animal encounters last week. But we’d argue the caterpillar still takes the cake. But as funny as the moment was, the USGA has rules in place to address these ‘loose impediments’ and ‘dangerous animals.’

• Loose impediments: Worms. Beetles. Or ants. If they are on your line, you are allowed to move them. The matter of fire ants is a bit tricky, however, as Bryson DeChambeau learned the hard way. Learn the curious case of fire ants below.

• Dangerous animals: In case your ball comes in contact with a dangerous animal — like resting on a giant alligator’s head — Rule 16.2b allows you to take relief. Not for a dead snake, though. That’s a loose impediment.

• Fairways & greens: On the fairway, if your resting ball is ‘attacked’ by an animal, you can replace it to the original place. However, if the ball is in motion and a pair of mongooses decides to toy with it, you play as it lies. But if the same thing happens on putting green, you gotta play the stroke again.

But ideally, you should request an official’s assistance to avoid any penalties. Now that you know this, here are some other bizarre animal encounters the pros faced.