MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — A banana skin derailed Rory McIlroy’s charge at the Australian Open on Saturday with the world No. 2 nine behind rock-solid Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen who heads a stacked field by two shots.

With huge crowds following him in intermittent showers at Royal Melbourne, the Northern Irishman opened his third round with a par before disaster struck.

He missed the fairway on the par-four second at the DP World Tour event, with his ball landing next to a big tuft of grass and under a discarded banana skin.

McIlroy could not remove it for fear of the ball moving, causing a penalty. The Masters champion could only hack it out 10 meters and was unable to get up and down, making a double-bogey.

Undeterred, he picked up a shot at the next — one of six birdies, mixed with a bogey, in a rollercoaster round of 68 as he bids for a second Australian Open title.

“It was sort of a double whammy,” he said. “It was in that little tuft of long grass, and then the banana skin over it.” 

“I shouldn’t have been there in the first place, was a terrible tee shot. It wasn’t the best way to start, but I felt like I played well after that.”

“Probably going to be a little too far behind to try to challenge tomorrow,” he added. “But I’ll try to end the week on a positive note, and go out there and shoot my my lowest score of the week.”

McIlroy will need something special to reel in Neergaard-Petersen, who is gunning for a first European tour title.

The Dane ended with three birdies among seven in his 66 to be 14-under for the tournament going into the final round.

It earned him a two-shot advantage from a group of three including resurgent major champion Cameron Smith (66), four-time PGA Tour winner Kim Si-woo of South Korea (65) and Mexican LIV player Carlos Ortiz (66).

A chip-in eagle at the 14th propelled Australia’s Smith into the outright lead, but a bogey at the last ruined his card.

It was nevertheless a huge boost for the LIV golfer, who has been in an alarming slump of form, missing his last seven cuts including at all four majors this year.

“I just feel like I didn’t have my best stuff out there today,” Smith said. 

“I definitely didn’t feel as comfortable over the ball, but just went through the process and hit the right shots and didn’t really shy away from that.”

“I don’t think anything has to change, really,” he added of his plan for Sunday. “I’ll probably go hit a few balls now, just clean up some stuff.”

Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester is a shot further back, one ahead of Australians Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee and New Zealander Daniel Hillier.