The penultimate duo of Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel and Matteo Manassero shone brightly at the BMW PGA Championship on Saturday.
McIlroy shot a 6-under 66, the highest score of the three in wet conditions. Horschel shot a 65, while Manassero had his lowest score of the week at 9-under 63. The Italian now sits atop the leaderboard and holds the 54-hole lead. He is at 18 under, three shots ahead of McIlroy and Horschel.
“I have to be honest, this was one of the best rounds I’ve ever played,” Manassero said.
“I do think we [fed off each other midway through] “It was a great game, with players like Rory and Billy, and a great atmosphere at Wentworth, it was a great game. Of course, you benefit from that. You benefit from playing against great players. So it was a really good atmosphere.”
Horschel made seven straight birdies between the 8th and 14th holes, while McIlroy and Manassero had five birdies between them. The players were in great form and put on a fantastic golf show for the London area crowd at the DP World Tour's main event.
McIlroy and Manassero also had three eagles on the par-5 fourth hole, and the group's total score for the day was 22 under.
“When you play in a group like this, it’s always great to be a part of it,” McIlroy said.
“I played pretty good. Another solid day. It was my lowest score of the week with no bogeys. I was just trying to keep up with Mateo. I know I need another low score tomorrow to catch him.”
Manassero has seen a resurgence in form in recent months. He won the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa in March and has six other top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour this season. He recently finished third at the Irish Open at Royal County Down.
After quickly becoming one of the best players on the DP World Tour as a teenager in the early 2010s, Manassero’s game completely deserted him. He was no longer a member of the DP World Tour in 2018, five years after he won the 2013 BMW PGA Championship, when he defeated Britain’s Simon Khan and Scotland’s Mark Warren in a playoff. As a result, he was frustrated with his confidence during that time.
“When my game slipped, I found it very difficult mentally,” Manassero told Golf Digest’s John Hagan.
“My expectations for myself don't include anything negative. So yes, it's hard to deal with. The good thing is that I'm young and I have time to turn it around. If this all happened when I was 35 or so, it might be different. But I'm young. I have time to do bad things on the golf course. I have time to make changes and decisions.”
Thanks to those changes, Manassero has completely turned things around. He is now in contention for a PGA Tour card, which is awarded to the top 10 players on the DP World Tour this season. So perhaps Saturday’s third round is a harbinger of what’s to come on the PGA Tour in 2025, with Manassero set to play in a late afternoon group with McIlroy and Horschel.
But before then, the trio will compete again at Wentworth on Sunday.
“Matteo got off to a very good start,” Horschel said.
“I was getting better there in the middle stages of the match. After the bogey on No. 7, I started to get going. We were all helping each other. Rory could have had two or three good scores. He hit some putts there down the stretch that could have gone in easily. But yeah, it was a really good round of golf with two really good players.”
Jack Milko is SB Nation's Playing Through golf columnist. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @JackMilco Same here.
