Billy Horschel, eagle in playoff. Manassero fourth
Manassero already from the podium
Spectacular finish in the BMW PGA Championship won by American Billy Horschel with 268 (67 69 65 67, -20) strokes, overtaking Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (67 68 66 67) and South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence (68 70 65 65) with an eagle on the second extra hole.
On the Wentworth Club course in Virginia Water, England, in the Rolex Series tournament that many consider to be in the same league as a Major, Matteo Manassero, who was in the running for the title in the final round and had started in the lead, also made a big impression and finished fourth with 271 (67 68 63 73, -17) along with Englishmen Aaron Rai and Matthew Baldwin. In seventh with 272 (-16) were France’s Antoine Rozner and Ugo Coussaud and Denmark’s Niklas Norgaard, and in 10th with 275 (-13) were England’s Marcus Armitage and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin.
In the playoff è immediately Lawrence came out after a ball in the water and continued his opponents with a birdie. Then center green with the second shot at the next by both of them for a distance putt. McIlroy’s ball è stopped just inches from the hole, while Horschel’s, further away, produced the eagle that allowed him to sign for the tournament for the second time after his first in 2021. Final round in 67 (-5, one eagle, five birdies, two bogeys) with a birdie to close out that allowed him to hook up with McIlroy (scored in 2024) and Lawrence for the playoff. The 37-year-old American from Grant boasts eight titles on the PGA Tour, with one WGC, and the two in Europe. He also won the FedEx Cup in 2014 and won a Presidents Cup (2022) with Team USA. For the exploit he received a check for $1,530,000 out of a prize pool of $9,000,000.
Matteo Manassero, his competition in 2013, was unable to keep up the pace in the third round, but it remains his new standout performance under the technical and competitive aspect in a season where in March he è came out on top in the Jonsson Workwear Open, in South Africa. Coming off a previous third-place finish in the Irish Open, he collected seven top tens and took part in the Paris Games. With this result è entered the top 100 of the world ranking (101° before the race) and put a serious mortgage on the ‘card’ for the 2025 PGA Tour, which will be awarded to the top 15 in the Race To Dubai (order of merit) not otherwise exempt where è climbed from ninth to fifth place.
Edoardo Molinari and Andrea Pavan, 66th with 143 (+1) and out by one stroke, and Guido Migliozzi, 120° with 150 (+6), and Francesco Molinari è withdrew.
