Rory McIlroy cut a frustrated figure as a four-foot birdie putt rolled past on the 16th, leaving him at level-par for the day and though he was just four shots from the top, there were 20 ahead of him on the leaderboard.
While that missed four-footer wasn’t quite the full story of the day, it was representative of a round where his good shots weren’t adequately rewarded and the poor shots were harshly punished.
His two birdies both came on par-5s, but a sloppy three-putt from 22 feet on eight – his third successive bogey on the hole – and a poorly played ninth hole left him standing on the 17th tee needing to birdie both par-5s remaining to avoid a mid-pack tee time on the final day.
He completed the first part of that job with a nine-foot birdie putt on 17 after a delicate chip gathered pace and ran past. A superb tee shot up the last left him 230 yards to the flag, and he sent a towering 4-iron that pitched between the flag and right-side bunker and rolled up to within two feet.
He made no mistake with the eagle putt, and from his victory chances teetering on the edge, he was right back in the thick of it and will go into the final round just two shots behind Manuel Elvira and Filippo Celli who each birdied the last to break out of the group at -12 and post 13-under.
RORY MCILORY COMES THIS CLOSE TO AN ALBATROSS AT THE 18TH 🦅#BMWPGA | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/pdw3ABs4dq
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 19, 2026
“I think it was a day where you really had to take advantage of the par-5s,” McIlroy said, after playing the four of them in five-under. “They were your scoring opportunities. The back nine for the most part played downwind, so there was maybe some other chances.
“But that front nine, I think especially by the time we teed off and some of the leaders, it was very, very difficult and very tricky to pick a club and commit to what you were doing. The wind was up-and-down; so hard to trust the wind was going to do what you thought it was going to do.
“Yeah, I stayed as patient as I could and feel like that patience was rewarded over the last few holes. Good birdie on 12. And then I always feel like the end of this golf course gives you a chance to salvage maybe a tougher, frustrating day, and I was able to do that with playing those last two holes [in] three-under.”
McIlroy is one of 10 players leading or within two shots of it, and there are a further five players three back, so he knows that it’s going to be a tough task to go out and claim victory on Sunday.
“Yeah, it’s going to be an interesting day,” he said. “As you say, there’s a lot of people around the lead, I think the conditions the last couple of days, that’s the reason it hasn’t let anyone get away from the pack just because it has played so tricky and difficult.
“Probably one of those days where you need to set a score for yourself or set a target for the front nine, and then as you enter the back nine, see where you stand and see what you need to do. I’ll probably try to not look at the leaderboards the front nine, and if I need to play a little bit more aggressive on the back, I’ll do it.”
A victory or solo second-placed finish would see McIlroy overtake Patrick Reed at the top of the Race to Dubai rankings after Reed was forced to withdraw through injury, but though a record-tying eighth Harry Vardon Trophy as the Tour’s leading player remains one of his big goals for the rest of the season, winning tomorrow and claiming a second BMW PGA Championship title would go a long way to achieving that.
“I have a big opportunity tomorrow on both fronts. I’d love to win this tournament again. It’s been a long time, 12 years,” he said.
“I have so many great memories of Wentworth in general. I came here for the first time as a 10-year-old to watch The World Match Play all the way back in the day, and I came in — it was always half-term. I always came with my mum and dad and watched this one.
“Fast forward, I’ve won this event. I’ve played a lot here and we now have a house on the estate as well. This place has a lot of history for me. Hopefully I have a good chance and give myself a real chance at it again.”
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