They’d brought the tee-times forward for the third round of the BMW PGA Championship due to the threat of dodgy weather in the Wentworth area.
As day three unfolded, though, the Met Office should’ve been releasing an alert to the rest of the field as the brilliant, resurgent Matteo Manassero stormed to the top of the leaderboard.
What a story this would be. Manassero won the DP World Tour’s flagship event as a rising superstar of just 20-years-old back in 2013 and was the youngest player to land the treasured title.
Since then, his well-documented toils and troubles led to him plumbing the kind of depths usually reserved for the deep-sea lantern fish. From 25th in the world at one point, he slithered all the way down to 1,805th.
His renaissance in recent seasons has been one of the great heart-warming tales in the professional game and the 31-year-old continues to prove that every cloud can have a silver lining.
A barnstorming nine-under 63 in round three propelled him onto an 18-under aggregate – the lowest 54-hole score to par in the event’s history - as he finished three shots clear of former Wentworth winners, Billy Horschel and Rory McIlroy.
It was terrific stuff from Manassero, who mounted a robust offensive, brought out the heavy artillery and just about left craters in the West Course turf.
On a day when six players held the lead at some stage, Manassero’s blitz included a raking birdie putt of 30-feet on the third and a barnstorming back-nine which included birdies at the 11th, 12, 14th, 16th, 17th and 18th.
It was the kind of finish that grandstands were invented for and the vast galleries packed into them roared their approval. Forza, indeed.
“One of the best rounds I've ever played,” said Manassero, who returned to the DP World Tour this season following promotion from the second-tier Challenge Tour at the end of 2023.
In the company of Horschel and McIlroy for the third round, Manassero revelled in the limelight. That particular three-ball was a combined 22-under for the day. “You feed off playing with the great players,” he added.
After 11-years since his last win on the DP World Tour, Manassero bridged that gap back in March when he marked his return to the main circuit with victory in South Africa.
Another Wentworth win would complete his remarkable recovery.
“It would mean everything to win one of the best events in golf outside the majors,” Manassero said. “I did fear I wouldn’t get back because you’re never sure until you actually do it.
"Even when you’re playing better, doing things well and you don’t succeed then you’re never sure, even though you may be really close.
“I've seen the leaderboard, I know what I'm going to face. Golf was great to me today. But I will see about tomorrow. I think now, I have a better perspective about golf and about being atop the leaderboard.”
McIlroy, the BMW PGA champion the year after Manassero, is lurking again after a 66 and was full of praise for the Italian’s resurgence.
“I don’t think you would find one player on tour that isn’t so happy for him,” McIlroy said.
“To be a young phenom and then lose your game and go play the Alps Tour, the character you need to do that is amazing. He’s such a nice guy, level-headed and it’s good to see him back to where he belongs.”
Horschel is yet another player seeking a second BMW PGA Championship title having become just the second American winner after Arnold Palmer with his one-shot win in 2021.
The 37-year-old made seven birdies in a row from the eighth, just two short of the tour record, and also birdied the 18th to join McIlroy and Manassero in Sunday’s final group with a 65.
“The hole looked like the size of the Atlantic Ocean,” Horschel said with a smile as wide as that expanse of water.
On the home front, Oban’s Robert MacIntyre experienced another eventful day and his three-under 69 for a 10-under total left him in ninth place but eight shots off the lead.
After Manassero’s masterful Italian Job, MacIntyre may need to blow the bloody doors off on the final day.
The Scot’s third round was typically lively. He conjured an eagle on the third, slumped to a double-bogey on the ninth, then pulled another eagle out of the bag when his cracking approach to the 12th rolled to within a couple of feet.
A birdie on the 15th was his final gain of the day as MacIntyre cemented his place in the upper echelons.
Grant Forrest, one-over at the turn, rallied on his inward half and plucked out an eagle and two birdies coming home in a 69 to finish in 21st on eight-under. Bearsden’s Ewen Ferguson is one shot further back on seven-under.
