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A spectacular tournament deserved a spectacular ending, and so the 2025 Australian Open got what it deserved.

Just not the outcome its fans really wanted.

In a stunning 72nd-hole reversal, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen got up-and-down from improbable territory in long grass right of the green — and then Cameron Smith three-putted for bogey from the other edge of the green, handing Neergaard-Petersen his first DP World Tour victory in the process.

Thousands and thousands from a sellout crowd ringed the final green as Smith and RNP came up the last all tied, but after Neergaard-Petersen’s approach shot sailed right, into jail, Smith found the green and placed himself squarely in the driver’s seat. It would have marked a storybook ending to Smith’s 2025; this is the first cut he’s made in eight non-LIV starts this year. Instead it marked a massive step in the right direction but a particularly harsh way to come up short, too.

Instead Neergaard-Petersen has his own perfect way to finish 2025; just a year after playing (and winning) the HotelPlanner Tour, he’s played well enough to earn a PGA Tour card for 2026 and now his maiden victory on the DPWT, too.

“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,” he said in a post-round interview.

We’ll have more to say about this glorious golf tournament, but in the meantime here are a few notes from Royal Melbourne.

-With the win Neergaard-Petersen also qualifies for the Masters; this is the first year the Australian Open has been given a berth and he took full advantage.

“It means the world. The Masters is the event I’ve grown up watching so many times, just dreaming of playing it,” he said.

-He’s also the first Dane to win the Australian Open.

-His winning putt was remarkable. A big-breaker hit with confidence and perfect speed.

-Smith’s three-putt was understandable, if regrettable; he was traversing the final green from miles away, and his first putt broke a ridiculous amount.

-The birdie putt Smith holed at No. 17 to stay tied was really good stuff.

-Three players (Si Woo Kim, Michael Hollick) to earn a spot in the 2026 Open Championship. That’s massive for Hollick, who has never played a major championship. It’s also massive for Scott, who is now in line to play all four majors for the 25th season in a row. Preposterous streak.

-Rory McIlroy’s week was clearly meaningful to the man himself as well as to the thousands who trailed him ’round Royal Melbourne. Only fitting, then, that he finish with a flourish, birdying Nos. 17 and 18 to go out on a high note.

“It’s been absolutely amazing,” McIlroy said post-round. “I’ve been excited to come back down here for a while.

“Obviously it’s been over 10 years since I played in the Australian Open and I guess just look the scenes out there this week, the crowds, the golf course, they were absolutely incredible.”

Good news: he’ll be back next year.

We will be, too.

SEATTLE — Logan Gilbert didnâ€t want to get greedy.

The Mariners had the bases loaded in a 2-2 game in the bottom of the eighth inning of ALCS Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night. The right-hander was standing in the dugout as a nervous spectator, just like the 46,758 fans surrounding him in the seats and concourses at T-Mobile Park.

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Minutes earlier, Cal Raleigh had rejuvenated the home crowd with a roof-scraping, stadium-rattling, game-tying solo home run to left field after seven agonizing innings of minimal offensive output. The rally continued after Raleighâ€s blast, with Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor drawing walks against Toronto reliever Brendon Little and Randy Arozarena wearing a 98-mph fastball off the elbow from Seranthony Domínguez for a hit-by-pitch to load the bases.

Up to the plate walked Eugenio Suárez, the lovable slugger who returned to Seattle in a serendipitous trade-deadline swap, still seeking his signature moment in this postseason.

By the time Suárez settled in for his showdown against Domínguez, Gilbert had been joined in the dugout by rotation-mate Bryce Miller, who started Game 5 on the mound, tossing four solid innings to set an encouraging tone for Seattle. Miller was in the clubhouse handling his post-outing arm care during Raleighâ€s home run, but he rushed out to get a better view as the eighth-inning rally started to build.

“I just ran outside, and next thing you know, bases are loaded, and Geno’s up,†Miller said afterward.

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Domínguez attacked Suárez with fastballs and sweepers, with Suárez fouling off one of each to stay alive in the high-stakes at-bat. In a 2-2 count, Gilbert turned to Miller with a humble plea.

“Logan actually told me, ‘Hey, all I’m asking for right here is a home run — nothing too much,â€â€ Miller recounted.

With the crowd eagerly and desperately awaiting a resolution that could break the tie, Domínguez unleashed a 98.5-mph fastball over the heart of the plate. Suárez delivered his thunderous, right-handed cut that has sent so many baseballs over fences during the course of his 12-year career.

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“And next pitch,†Miller said, “home run.â€

Suárez connected with precision, sending Domínguez’s heater soaring toward the right-field seats. He exited the batterâ€s box calmly and started walking toward first base while holding his bat with two hands, patiently observing the trajectory of the most important batted ball of his life.

Three seconds later, that ball crash-landed into the crowd for a series-altering grand slam and a 6-2 lead that the Mariners would not relinquish.

After Raleighâ€s solo shot had taken the volume in the venue to ear-splitting heights, Suárez’s grand slam achieved seemingly supersonic levels. And with that, Gilbertâ€s wish had been granted.

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“It started as a request,†he told Yahoo Sports postgame. “But we can say that I called it.â€

As Suárez spent his well-earned time rounding the bases, several teammates spilled out of the dugout, unable to contain their excitement about what their beloved teammate had just done. For all Suárez brings to the table as a player, his unwavering positivity and steady leadership rooted in an overabundance of good vibes make him nearly everybodyâ€s favorite teammate, someone whose success is celebrated tenfold because of his impact on the entire roster.

That singular clubhouse presence, which Seattle was familiar with from Suárez’s time with the team in 2022 and ‘23, combined with the massive right-handed power he showcased in Game 5 is what made him such an obvious target for Seattle at the trade deadline. And though Suárez had gone through some considerably cold stretches since returning to the Mariners, the veteran third baseman remained predictably upbeat and continued to work hard, with the belief that his time in October would come.

“I think everybody was thinking what could happen, but the chances of it actually happening in that moment is probably not super high,†Gilbert said. “And then, of course, it happens. Geno’s been so clutch, and so many home runs, so if anybody was going to do it, I feel like it’s him.â€

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“He’s done that for 10 years — that same exact swing,†catcher Mitch Garver said.

It was a swing that not only gave the Mariners the lead but also single-handedly transformed the tenor of a series that had been decidedly in Torontoâ€s favor since the action shifted to Seattle for Game 3. For the majority of the 25 innings played at T-Mobile Park before the Mariners†eighth-inning breakthrough, the good vibes Suárez so passionately preaches were absolutely nowhere to be found.

The Mariners had returned home with a 2-0 lead in the series having flatly dominated the Blue Jays on their home turf, setting the stage for the possibility of clinching the franchiseâ€s first trip to the World Series in front of a fan base that had waited nearly a half-century for such a moment. But Toronto arrived in Seattle intent on reversing the tide and followed through with downright dominant victories in Games 3 and 4. And for the first seven innings of Game 5, a similar story was being written, putting the Mariners in danger of dropping all three home games and letting a golden opportunity turn into an embarrassing and season-threatening series deficit.

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For the third straight night, the Mariners had opened the scoring with a home run, this time on a Suárez solo shot in the second inning. But once again, the bats went ice-cold after that initial blast, allowing Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman to settle in and a relentless Toronto lineup to scratch across a couple of runs and pull ahead 2-1.

Torontoâ€s seizing of the lead was a particular gut punch for Mariners fans, considering who was on the mound when it occurred: All-Star starter Bryan Woo, making his postseason debut at long last as he builds back up from the right pectoral injury that kept him off the ALDS roster. Woo surrendered the double and single that gave Toronto a 2-1 lead in the sixth.

But unlike the previous two nights, when the Blue Jays†offense exploded to put the game out of reach, just one run was the difference as the later innings of Game 5 arrived — a deficit that could be eliminated with one swing. And for as unproductive as the Mariners†lineup had been, it still featured multiple hitters capable of sending one out of the yard when needed. Sure enough, the MVP candidate who just spent the summer smashing home run records and the veteran slugger who has been sending souvenirs into seats for over a decade accessed their power at the perfect time, producing two of the most memorable long balls in the history of the Mariners franchise.

“I have a good amount of beautiful moments in my career, but today is something else,†a beaming Suárez said postgame as he sat at the podium with his daughters, Nicolle and Melanie.

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“Hitting that grand slam and helping my team win games in the postseason, in a big game here in front of our fans … They have been waiting for a long time, and myself, too. I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole career.â€

Said Raleigh: “The fans and the stadium, they were waiting 26 innings for something like that. Obviously, it didn’t deliver the first two games. But when those moments happen, they just exploded.â€

Thanks to those two titanic swings from Raleigh and Suárez — and an efficient 1-2-3 ninth thrown by closer Andrés Muñoz, who was finally given a lead at home to lock down — what was trending toward one of the most disappointing three days in the history of Seattle sports transformed into one inning of unfettered jubilation that will be remembered in the Pacific Northwest for generations to come.

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By securing the victory in Game 5, the Mariners have arrived at an entirely unfamiliar juncture for the franchise. Just one win separates Seattle from its first World Series berth and the erasure of a longstanding, not-so-fun fact regarding the franchiseâ€s status as the only big-league ballclub to never appear in the Fall Classic.

The team will now travel back to Toronto, where Game 6 on Sunday represents its first of two chances to punch a ticket to the unexplored final stage of baseballâ€s October tournament.

“They came here last night for this type of game, and I’ve been waiting for this,†Suárez said. “I just feel so grateful right now and feel so good because we’re going to Toronto with an opportunity in front of us to go to a World Series.â€

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PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper says the only thing the flat Phillies can do in Los Angeles is “flip the script.”

Flip it? Philadelphia needs to tear it up and start typing from scratch, because, in Hollywood terms, Harper, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and the bulk of the high-priced Phillies have been an absolute flop.

Throw in J.T. Realmuto and Nick Castellanos, and those five players are 5-for-35 through two games of the NL Division Series with 13 strikeouts and no home runs.

The Phillies — with a $291.7 million payroll — have fallen into the same October pattern of frigid bats from their highest-priced players that also doomed their previous three playoff runs.

The Dodgers turned back Philadelphia’s late rally Monday night for a 4-3 victory in Game 2, pushing the Phillies to within one loss of elimination.

“I think those guys are trying to do a little too much right now, instead of just being themselves and looking for base hits,” manager Rob Thomson said. “The power will come.”

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Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell and reliever Emmet Sheehan held Philadelphia to three hits over eight innings. Without any help from their All-Star trio at the top of the batting order, the Phillies showed life in the ninth and scored two runs on three hits.

Turner, the NL batting champion, was retired on a groundout to end the game.

For those keeping score at home, Turner, Schwarber and Harper went a combined 1-for-10 in Game 2 with five strikeouts. The trio had a combined 1-for-11 effort with six strikeouts and no RBIs in the 5-3 loss in Game 1.

“I wouldn’t say we’re pressing,” Harper said. “We’re missing pitches over the plate. They’re making good pitches when they need to. That’s kind of how baseball works sometimes.”

The Phillies were built on the long ball, so it was a bit of a head-scratcher in the ninth when Bryson Stott was asked to sacrifice with no outs and Castellanos on second base. Stott got the bunt down, only for the Dodgers to get the out at third — and the next two outs — without another run scoring.

“I wanted to play for the tie,” Thomson said. “I liked where our bullpen was compared to theirs.”

Stott defended the unpopular decision and said he tried to deaden the bunt as much as possible, but the Dodgers’ infielders executed their wheel play on defense “as perfect as you can.”

“We’re in the postseason and you’re trying to win games and getting the tying run on third with less than two outs is big,” Stott said. “You get the bunt down and you want to play for that. It just didn’t really work.”

Nothing really has for the Phillies.

With ace Zack Wheeler sidelined as he recovers from surgery to remove a blood clot in his pitching shoulder, Cristopher Sanchez and Jesus Luzardo did their part to limit the Dodgers in the first two games.

The Phillies will turn to one-time ace Aaron Nola over 12-game winner Ranger Suarez to try to save their season in Game 3. It sure looks bleak: Teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-five postseason series have won 80 of 90 times, including 54 sweeps.

“First one to three,” Harper said. “They’re not there yet. We’ve just got to play the best baseball we can and understand we’re a good team in here. Anything can happen over the next couple of days.”

Nola, his season derailed by everything from ankle and rib injuries to old-fashioned inconsistency, is coming off his worst year since he broke in with the Phillies in 2015.

The 32-year-old Nola — signed to a $172 million, seven-year contract ahead of the 2024 season — was drafted seventh by Philadelphia in 2014 and had been one of the most durable pitchers in the majors since his big league debut. Even as this season unraveled, with a 5-10 record and 5.01 ERA, Thomson’s confidence never wavered.

Nola is 5-4 in 10 career postseason starts with a 4.02 ERA.

“You can’t get three wins in Game 3, right?” Nola said. “I’ve been feeling pretty good. My body’s all healthy.”

If only there was an instant cure for what ails the Phillies’ bats.

Maybe it’s going to Los Angeles.

Once invincible at home in the playoffs since this four-year run started in 2022, the Phillies lost for the fifth time in their past six playoff games at Citizens Bank Park and are just 2-9 in their past 11 overall.

“It’s been tough,” Harper said. “We’ve got to just flip the script and understand we’re a really good baseball team.”

A really good team. Just not great.

The Phillies lost to Houston in the 2022 World Series, to the Arizona Diamondbacks a year later in the National League Championship Series and were knocked out by the Mets last year in four games in the NLDS.

Get swept, and it could be the end of the line for potential free agents Schwarber, Realmuto and Suarez.

Maybe even Philly Rob.

But those are questions for the end of the series — if it ends the season.

“This is a resilient group,” Thomson said. “Our backs are against the wall. We’ve just got to come out fighting.”

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