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Moving Day at the 2025 BMW PGA Championship lived up to the name as the leaderboard at Wentworth changed dramatically over the course of Saturday’s third round, which featured some torrential rain in the middle of the afternoon. Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Åberg and Justin Rose were the names sitting on top going into the weekend, but all four struggled and slipped back off the pace, allowing the chasers to make up ground and create a fascinating, bunched leaderboard going into Sunday.
Coming into the week, all the talk at Wentworth was about the 11 members of the European Ryder Cup team, but the 54-hole co-leaders are Adrien Saddier and Alex Noren at 15 under. Saddier and Noren charged to the top thanks to rounds of 65 and 66, respectively, with Noren closing in style with an eagle on No. 18. That duo will hope to hold off the big names lurking behind them Sunday.
Leading the chase pack is Tyrrell Hatton, who posted the low round of the day with an 8-under 64, including a run of seven birdies in his final 10 holes to insert himself into the mix at 13 under, good for solo 3rd. Hovland is also not far behind at 12 under; he handled the wild weather at Wentworth better than the rest of the final group, as he had to watch as Rose (75) and Matsuyama (76) made a mess of their third rounds to fall completely out of contention.
Åberg similarly stalled out with a 73 to go into Sunday’s final round at 10 under, five off the pace after a tremendous start to the week as the 18-hole leader. He’s joined by Patrick Reed and Harry Hall at 10 under, while Joaquin Niemann shot a 65 to move to 9 under and give himself a chance at a strong finish.
Two of the biggest names in the field, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, made the cut but stand non-factors this weekend as McIlroy is 5 under and Rahm is 7 under for the tournament going into Sunday.
Still, Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has to be pleased that the likes of Hatton, Hovland and Åberg are all in the hunt for the lead, as a few of the European Ryder Cup team’s stars will get the kind of competitive reps late on Sunday they hoped for in their final tune-up for Bethpage Black.