PGA

BMW PGA Championship – round three

-13 M Elvira (Spa), F Celli (Ita); -12 J Veerman (US), A Del Rey (Spa) JJ Spaun (US)

Selected others: -11 R McIlroy (NI), A Scott (AUS); -10 S Bairstow (Eng), M Wallace (Eng), R MacIntyre (Sco); -9 J Smith (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), A Rai (Eng); -7 R Fisher (Eng), S Lowry (Ire); -6 A Fitzpatrick (Eng); -5 D Law (Sco), J Rose (Eng), E Ferguson (Sco), T Hatton (Eng)

Rory McIlroy left himself two strokes behind the third-round leaders heading into the final day of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Northern Ireland’s world number two made a superb eagle on the 18th to stay in contention with a 72, leaving him on 11 under.

Spain’s Manuel Elvira and Italy’s Filippo Celli share the lead after both made birdies on the final hole to leave them 13 under.

But there is a congested leaderboard with 20 players within four strokes of the lead.

Alejandro Del Rey, JJ Spaun and Johannes Veerman are one shot behind with an exciting finish in store on Sunday.

McIlroy is attempting to win a record-equalling eighth Race to Dubai title and can boost his hopes by securing the second Wentworth title of his career.

“There are a lot of people around the leaders,” he said after another round in blustery conditions.

“I think the conditions over the last couple of days are the reason why no-one has got away from the pack, just because it has played so tricky and difficult.

“I’ll probably try not to look at the leaderboards on the front nine, and if I need to play a little bit more aggressively on the back, I’ll do it.”

ATLANTA — Tiger Woods was going for his seventh straight PGA Tour victory when he tied for second at Torrey Pines. He earned $264,000 that day to move to No. 1 in career tour earnings.

That was Feb. 13, 2000, and Woods stayed there ever since — until Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler won the Tour Championship to capture his second FedEx Cup title and the $10 million prize — now considered official money — to raise his career total to $130,390,661.

Woods had been at $120,999,166 since he made his last cut on the PGA Tour at the 2024 Masters.

This is an entirely different era of golf, and Scheffler finally topping Woods in career earnings was inevitable. That it happened so quickly is a testament to Scheffler’s dominance. He has been No. 1 in the world since May 2023.

The popularity and momentum Woods brought to the sport 30 years ago generated enormous spikes in prize money. And then with the arrival of Saudi-funded LIV Golf in 2022, the PGA Tour responded with even greater increases to keep more players from defecting.

There were 15 prize funds of $20 million or more this season on the PGA Tour schedule. Woods never played for a $10 million purse during his peak years from 1997 through 2009.

Woods won the FedEx Cup twice when it was worth $10 million, all in bonus money. Scheffler earned $23 million in bonus money last week by leading the FedEx Cup in points. The FedEx Cup finale has counted as official the last two years.

Most telling about the rapid increase in money was the 2024 Masters. Woods, at age 48 and trying to recover from multiple back surgeries and a 2023 car crash that shattered his right leg and ankle, finished in last place and made $44,000.

Scheffler won the Masters that year and moved to No. 12 on the career earnings list at $57,658,464. He has earned just over $72.7 million in his last 50 tournaments over two years and four months.

It was a matter of time, and it really doesn’t matter to Scheffler.

“The reason our purses are so large today is because of the influence and impact that Tiger had on the game,” Scheffler said before the Tour Championship started. “I wouldn’t really consider that a Tiger record being broken. I think it just shows one of the many effects he had on the game of golf in a positive way.”

Scheffler indicated last week in St. Louis the Tiger number he cares about his victories. Scheffler won for the 22nd time Sunday at East Lake. Woods shares the PGA Tour record at 82 victories.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.