Rising star Ludvig Aberg has set his sights on victory on the BMW PGA Championship after taking a two-shot lead into Sunday’s remaining spherical at Wentworth.
Aberg is taking part in in solely his tenth occasion since turning skilled and will depart the Surrey course along with his second successive title on the DP World Tour.
However it’s been a dramatic and controversial match, with Rory McIlroy labelling the second spherical a ‘s***present’ after a late end underneath lights, whereas former Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn reportedly clashed with a drunken fan on Friday.
And a fan additionally abused Scot Bob MacIntyre in the course of the second spherical, heckling him over a guess the supporter had positioned on a rival of the soon-to-be Ryder Cup debutant.
However within the third spherical, 23-year-old Aberg carded a 3rd spherical of 66 to achieve 16 underneath par on Saturday. England’s Tommy Fleetwood hit 67 to share second place on 14 underneath with Scotland’s Connor Syme, who lined the again 9 in 31 for a spherical of 65.
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Masters champion Jon Rahm, who was two over par for the match after 21 holes, is 4 pictures off the tempo following a 66 which included birdies on the seventeenth and 18th.
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Aberg’s victory within the European Masters earlier this month earned him a Ryder Cup wildcard from Europe captain Luke Donald hours later.
However he admitted successful the BMW PGA Championship would even be “very excessive” on his bucket record.
“It is without doubt one of the largest occasions on the DP World Tour, it’s been like that for a very long time,” he mentioned.
“I’ve received reminiscences of Alex (Noren) successful right here when he hit an unbelievable shot into 18. It’s actually cool to see myself up there, I’ve to pinch myself within the arm now and again nevertheless it’s fairly cool.
“I believe expectations simply modified after Switzerland when it comes to understanding I can do it. Regardless that I’ve received in school fairly a bit it’s completely different, whether or not you prefer it or not, to win on the professional stage and it was fairly cool to try this.
“I may inform myself that I may do it and was adequate and hopefully I’ll be capable of try this tomorrow too.” Fleetwood will pose a major problem to Aberg as he chases a major victory in entrance of his residence crowd.
The 32-year-old’s spectacular spherical was boosted by an eagle on the fourth gap courtesy of a lesson from Rory McIlroy.
“I had a lesson out of the tough from Rory on Monday when the Ryder Cup workforce have been in Rome,” Fleetwood mentioned.
“I at all times wrestle to get steep on it and I’m at all times chopping out of the tough so he simply helped me with a few issues on how higher to do it actually.
“It labored a few instances in the present day. The one with an eight iron on quantity 4 was good, it got here out good and it’s a new shot in my locker.”
McIlroy himself rebounded with a five-under third spherical – together with one of many luckiest bounces you’ll ever see – after simply making the lower following a dramatic second spherical.
A birdie on 18 noticed him card a 71 on Friday, however he was pissed off after fog delayed play for 80 minutes earlier within the morning, that means lots of the later gamers completed their spherical in close to darkness and there was a four-group logjam on the ultimate two holes.
The Northern Irishman needed to wait till the subsequent morning for rivals to complete their spherical to know if he would make the lower and play the ultimate two rounds.
“It was a s—show,” McIlroy mentioned after the second spherical. “The fog clearly delayed issues however I’ve by no means remembered having that many gamers on 17 and 18. It’s not as in the event that they teed us off in tighter slots or something.
“It’s laborious for me attempting to play the final effectively and make the lower, it’s a little bit of a mad sprint and a scramble to get completed. I don’t know what you would do about that aside from much less gamers within the area.”
In the meantime, Thomas Bjorn, the 2018 Ryder Cup captain, was additionally reportedly caught in a second-round altercation with a drunken fan. Bjorn was seen strolling as much as confront the fan on the 18th.
And Bob MacIntyre, who will debut within the Ryder Cup in a fortnight, revealed he was badly heckled by a fan who claimed he had a guess towards the Scotsman. MacIntyre later mentioned he even instructed his caddie Greg Milne to be careful in case the fan’s abuse turned bodily.
“I used to be getting a little bit of stick up the seventeenth … this man instructed me the quantity he had using on it [the bet],’ MacIntyre mentioned after the second spherical, the place he outscored taking part in companions Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick. “I mentioned to Greg strolling to the 18th tee ‘be switched on as this man may throw something at us’.
“There’s clearly playing occurring golf these days and a few folks trip some huge cash on it – and, sadly, he misplaced in the present day. I truly talked about that to somebody a couple of weeks in the past, it’d even have been Jon [Rahm] in regards to the heckling on the PGA Tour.”