At the Leaderboard, Manassero tops the chart with -18, followed closely by Rai at -17 and a trio at -16 including McIlroy, Lawrence and Horschel. On the par 5 12th, Rai takes the lead with a beautiful draw right into the core of the green, and is now set to putt for an eagle. If accomplished, he could potentially secure a lead tie. At the 11th, Matthew Baldwin shows promise of reaching -16 with a spectacular shot while Lawrence also indicates fair chances of making it to -17, though not as close.
McIlroy and Horschel at the par 3 10th, both miss the green to the left. Manassero’s flawed shot puts him farther to the left than both the players. Nonetheless, Rai is the one who appears to be gathering momentum at present.
Manassero’s satisfactory chip at 9 leaves him with a slight miss for his par. Following suit, McIlroy attempts a threat to the hole with his chip from the upslope. Although executed well, his effort falls short by a foot.
Manassero’s putt falls short from 14 feet, leading to another dropped shot and presenting an opportunity for the followers. His lead is now down to -18. Horschel’s missed birdie putt creates a significant missed chance.
McIlroy trails by seven strokes at the turn, but remains content since his front nine was quite lacklustre.
Impressive ironwork by Horschel at the ninth offers decent opportunities. McIlroy overshoots the green from 175 yards while Manassero’s bunker shot takes a wrong turn. To balance his par, he must get up and down.
Manassero’s bleak tee shot on 9 seems bunker-bound while McIlroy and Horschel produce solid fairway wood swings straight down the fairway.
McKibbin and Lowry manage to rise to -12 and -11 respectively. The former makes it to the top 10 and the latter ties at 14th.
Disappointingly, McIlroy’s putt on 8 falls short to the right which is another par. Despite one birdie being on board so far, he doesn’t lose ground to his playing partners after Horschel drops a shot and Manassero’s birdie put misses.
Welcome to our live broadcast of the BMW PGA Championship from Wentworth, which is the flagship event on the DP World Tour. Contestants are facing off in a contest exhibiting soft, low-scoring circumstances. Rory McIlroy, who is striving to outperform the frontrunner Matteo Manassero, has started out fairly ordinarily on this day. So far, he’s made a birdie and a bogey after a few remarkable drives and some subpar approaches. With three par-5s still ahead in the back nine, the game has a fair bit yet to unfold. McIlroy is sharing the final round with American Billy Horschel and Manassero.
Manassero has been through turmoil with his game yet a win in this tournament would be widely celebrated, particularly as the Italian golfer achieved his most notable win when he was the youngest champ of this tournament back in 2013. Currently, McIlroy stands three shots off the leading score of 16 under.
Aaron Rai, impressively, is taking full advantage of the softer conditions, piling up birdies to reach 17 under, trailing behind by two, while Horschel maintains an impressive score. Aided by two successful chips from the beginning, Thriston Lawrence stands at 16 under as well.
McIlroy made a poor start at the eighth short par 4, hitting a tree with his tee shot and spraying right. His observation of the game was unimpeded, although it was from the rough to a difficult green. Meanwhile, Manassero finds himself on the fairway, whilst Horschel faces even tougher conditions having pulled left and will face obstruction.
Meanwhile, the Irish had a commendable run in the tournament with Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin almost making the top 10, standing at 11 under. Lowry is a stroke behind at 10 under, making his way into the top 25. The game is standing to be an exciting one with the players prepared to give their best.