The penultimate pairing of Rory McIlroy, Billy Horschel, and Matteo Manassero produced plenty of fireworks on Saturday at the BMW PGA Championship.
McIlroy carded a 6-under 66, the highest score of the three, in wet conditions. Horschel posted a 65, while Manassero shot the lowest round of the week, a 9-under 63. The Italian now sits atop the leaderboard and holds the 54-hole lead. He sits at 18-under, leading McIlroy and Horschel by three.
“I have to be honest, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played,” Manassero said.
“I did feel like we [fed off each other midway through] the round. It’s great, guys like Rory and Billy, and the atmosphere at Wentworth; it’s such a fantastic show. Of course, you feed from that. You feed from playing with great players. So it was one of those really nice atmospheres.”
Between the 8th and 14th holes, Horschel made seven straight birdies while McIlroy and Manassero made a combined five. This group was on fire, putting on a thrilling display of golf for the London-area crowd in the DP World Tour’s marquee event.
McIlroy and Manassero also made an eagle three on the par-5 4th hole, as this group turned in a combined score of 22-under on the day.
“When you’re playing in a group like that, it’s always great to be a part of,” McIlroy said.
“I played well. Another solid day. My lowest score of the week, no bogeys. Just trying to keep up with Matteo, as well. I know I will need another low one tomorrow to try to catch him.”
Manassero has had a renaissance of sorts in recent months. He won the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa in March and has posted six other top 10s on the DP World Tour this season. He recently finished solo 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 abandoned him. He was no longer a member of the DP World Tour by 2018, five years removed from his victory at the 2013 BMW PGA Championship, where he fended off Englishman Simon Khan and Scotsman Marc Warren in a playoff. Consequently, he struggled with his confidence during that time span.
“When my game declined, I found it very difficult mentally,” Manassero told John Huggan of Golf Digest.
“I had expectations of myself that did not involve any downside. So yes, it was difficult to handle. The good thing was that I was young enough to have the time to turn things around. If it had all happened when I was 35 or so, it might have been different. But I was so young. I had time to do bad things on the golf course. I had 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—awarded to the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour this season. So perhaps Saturday’s third round is a harbinger of things to come on the PGA Tour in 2025, with Manassero playing alongside McIlroy and Horschel in a late-afternoon group.
But before that happens, this trio will tee it up again on Sunday at Wentworth.
“Matteo got off to a really good start,” Horschel said.
“I made a run there in the middle of the round. After my bogey on the 7th, I got started. We were all feeding off each other. Rory could easily have shot two or three better. He hit some putts there at the end that could easily have gone in. But yeah, it was a really good round of golf with two really good guys.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
