Aberg two clear at Wentworth, McIlroy and Lowry eye Sunday best

Shane Lowry walks on the 18th hole during Day Three of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club on September 16, 2023 in Virginia Water, England. (Photo by Luke Walker/Getty Images)

Ludvig Aberg's meteoric rise shows no signs of slowing down after the Ryder Cup rookie cruised into a two-shot lead in the BMW PGA Championship.

Playing just his 10th event since turning professional, Aberg carded a third round of 66 at Wentworth to reach 16 under par in pursuit of back-to-back victories on the DP World Tour.

England's Tommy Fleetwood delighted the large crowds with a 67 to share second place on 14 under with Scotland's Connor Syme, who covered the back nine in 31 in a superb 65.

Masters champion Jon Rahm, who was two over par for the tournament after 21 holes, is four shots off the pace following a 66 which included vital birdies on the 17th and 18th.

Aberg, whose victory in the European Masters earlier this month earned him a Ryder Cup wild card from Europe captain Luke Donald hours later, admitted winning the BMW PGA Championship was "very, very high" on his bucket list.

"It is one of the biggest events on the DP World Tour, it's been like that for a long time," the 23-year-old said.

"I've got memories of Alex (Noren) winning here when he hit an unbelievable shot into 18. It's really cool to see myself up there, I have to pinch myself in the arm every now and then but it's quite cool.

"I think expectations just changed after Switzerland in terms of knowing I can do it. Even though I've won in college quite a bit it is different, whether you like it or not, to win on the pro stage and it was pretty cool to do that.

"I could tell myself that I could do it and was good enough and hopefully I'll be able to do that tomorrow too."

Fleetwood is also targeting a significant victory in front of a home crowd which roared him on every step of the way, the 32-year-old kickstarting his recovery from a slow start with an eagle on the fourth courtesy of a lesson from Rory McIlroy.

"I had a lesson out of the rough from Rory on Monday when the Ryder Cup team were in Rome," Fleetwood said.

"I always struggle to get steep on it and I am always chopping out of the rough so he just helped me with a couple of things on how better to do it really.

"It worked a couple of times today. The one with an eight iron on number four was good, it came out perfect and it is a new shot in my locker." 

Rory McIlroy plays his second shot on the 15th hole during Day Three of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth   (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

McIlroy finished the day on six under, ten behind Aberg, but will be eyeing a Sunday confidence boost ahead of the Ryder Cup.

"It felt good." McIlroy told RTÉ Sport. "I mean I played well, give myself a lot of chances obviously got off to a great start and hit a couple of bad bogeys. But you know that's golf and I'm pretty happy, like anytime shoot five under around here is pretty good. I mean, it's obviously playing pretty easy today, but it’s never that easy.

"I'm in a sort of half decent position in tomorrow. Obviously I'd like to be closer to leaders but if I can go and shoot low tomorrow, you just never know.

"It's hard to win these tournaments and it's hard to finish down the stretch like this. So who knows what the winning score will be? I just have to keep doing my own thing and plugging away.

"Regardless of what happens tomorrow, I feel like I'm going into the Ryder Cup with quite a bit of confidence in my game. It's always a great place to be because if you're not too confident your game you can get found out. So you know I'm not going to be like that. I'm pretty happy and I'm very excited."

Shane Lowry is three shots better off than McIlroy and feels his game is going in the right direction.

He told RTE Sport: "I felt like I showed a few positive signs. My iron play was good, I hit some wedges really close, I drove the ball probably still not as well as I would have liked. But yeah, overall it was a it was a solid day and certainly a step in the right direction.

"It's just a matter of getting comfortable with the shots that I'm trying to hit. Like I can hit all the shots, it's just a matter of getting comfortable with it and like just really simple basic things like alignment and thought process before I step into a shot.

"I just haven't really practised a whole lot over the last few weeks, so just made a more of a commitment today to be a little clearer in my head of what I wanted to do with each shot that I played, and you know, it was better.

"I made seven birdies and feel like I'm still not really on my game.

"I feel there's a there's a really low one in me. So hopefully tomorrow I can go out there and get off to a fast start and try to improve on the score that I shot today."