VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Eleven years after winning the title as a 20-year-old prodigy, Matteo Manassero moved into position to capture the prestigious BMW PGA Championship again on Saturday.
Manassero shot 9-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead after the third round.
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VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Eleven years after winning the title as a 20-year-old prodigy, Matteo Manassero moved into position to capture the prestigious BMW PGA Championship again on Saturday.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the 4th green during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy plays a shot from a bunker on the 3rd hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy on the 4th hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Italy's Matteo Manassero on the 3rd hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Italy's Matteo Manassero on the 4th hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Victory would cap a career revival for Manassero, who as a teenager was widely expected to become a golfing superstar. His game went into freefall, dropping the Italian onto the third-tier Alps Tour and to a world ranking of 1,705.
Back on the European tour this year, he won in South Africa in March and is in sight of a victory over a stacked field — containing Rory McIlroy — at the tour’s flagship event.
“Thinking of the difficult years, to be standing here right now in the lead — it feels amazing,” Manassero said. “My perspective has changed. I'm going to go out and enjoy tomorrow.”
Manassero, now ranked No. 101, pumped his fist after curling in a 12-foot putt at the last to seal a birdie-birdie-birdie finish and a back nine of 31 on the storied West Course that was drenched in heavy rain for much of the round. He made seven birdies and an eagle 3 at No. 4, and was 18 under for the tournament.
“I have to be honest, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played,” Manassero said.
McIlroy shot 66 after getting up and down for par at No. 18 after hitting into water off his second shot. The No. 3-ranked Northern Irishman, who won the event in 2014, was tied for second place with 2021 champion Billy Horschel, whose round of 65 included a run of seven straight birdies — featuring holed putts totaling 130 feet — from No. 8.
“The hole looked like the size of the Atlantic Ocean,” Horschel said.
Overnight leader Matthew Baldwin, who is ranked No. 363 and was dropping off packages for Amazon two years ago, shot 71 and was alone in fourth place after a round that began in pouring rain — necessitating preferred lies — and finished under a sunny sky outside London.
McIlroy, who also has two runner-up finishes at Wentworth, came from seven shots back at the start of the final round to win a decade ago and said catching Manassero might be just as difficult on Sunday.
“It’s good to see him back playing the golf that he is and where he’s supposed to be,” McIlroy said of Manassero, "so it’s going to be an exciting day.
“But if I get off to a fast start, it’s game on.”
Manassero would be a popular winner given the journey he has been on.
In 2009, he won the British Amateur, the silver medal at the British Open for low amateur and became No. 1 amateur in the world.
Within four years, he'd won four events on the European tour, capped by winning at the BMW PGA Championship to move into the top 25 in the world. Six years later, he briefly stepped away from a game he no longer loved, but is now back in the big time.
A victory would put him on track to qualify for next year's Ryder Cup and to claim one of the 10 PGA Tour cards available each year from the European tour.
“I know what I’m doing much more,” Manassero said. “It’s not easy to compete at such a high level in tough conditions. It’s not like the ideal comfort zone but that’s what we work for. That’s what we try and achieve. Just happy where I am.”
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USA's Billy Horschel plays a shot on the 4th hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy lines up a putt on the 4th green during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy plays a shot from a bunker on the 3rd hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy on the 4th hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Italy's Matteo Manassero on the 3rd hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
Italy's Matteo Manassero on the 4th hole during day three of the PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, England, Saturday Sept. 21, 2024. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — Two Hezbollah leaders were among those killed in an Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb , Israel’s military said Saturday, as Lebanon raised the death toll from the attack to 37, including women and children.
Israel and Hezbollah continued to trade fire Saturday, a day after the airstrike claimed the lives of Ibrahim Akil, who was in charge of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force, and Ahmed Wahbi, another senior commander in the group’s military wing.
Firas Abiad told reporters that the dead included seven women and three children. He said another 68 people were wounded of whom 15 remained in hospital, adding that search and rescue operations were still ongoing, with the number of casualties likely to rise.
The rare strike hit an apartment block in a densely populated south Beirut neighborhood on Friday afternoon during rush hour. It was the deadliest strike targeting the Lebanese capital since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.
Akil, the main target, had been wanted by the U.S. for years for his alleged role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut and in taking American and German hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s. He was under U.S. sanctions and the U.S. State Department last year announced a reward of up to $7 million for information leading to his “identification, location, arrest, and/or conviction.”
Wahbi was described as a commander who played major roles within Hezbollah for decades and was imprisoned in an Israeli jail in south Lebanon in 1984. Hezbollah said he was one of the “field commanders” of a 1997 ambush in southern Lebanon that left 12 Israeli troops dead.
Hezbollah announced overnight Friday that 15 of its operatives were killed by Israeli forces, but did not elaborate on the location of these deaths. Meanwhile, the Israeli army spokesperson, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said on Saturday a total of 16 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the strike.
Israel earlier said Akil had been meeting with other militants in the basement of the apartment block.
Lebanese troops cordoned off the area around the destroyed building as members of the Lebanese Red Cross stood nearby to take any bodies recovered from the rubble. On Saturday morning, Hezbollah’s media office took journalists on a tour of the scene of the airstrike where workers were still digging through building's ruins.
The Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh told reporters at the scene that 23 people are still missing.
The airstrike on the crowded Qaim street knocked out an eight-story building that had 16 apartments and damaged another one adjacent to it. The missiles destroyed the building and cut through the basement where the meeting of Hezbollah officials was being held, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.
Shops in a nearby building were badly damaged.
Friday's deadly strike came hours after Hezbollah launched one of its most intense bombardments of northern Israel in nearly a year of fighting, largely targeting Israeli military sites. Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the Katyusha rockets.
The militant group said its latest wave of rocket salvos was a response to Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon. However, it came days after mass explosions of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies killed at least 37 people — including two children. Some 2,900 others were wounded in the assault which has been widely attributed to Israel.
The Lebanese health minister said Saturday hospitals across the country were filled with the wounded.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in the attack, which marked a major escalation in the past 11 months of simmering conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.
On Saturday, Israel launched an intense wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon, according to an Associated Press journalist in the area. The Israeli military said its air force was attacking Hezbollah targets, without providing further details. The militant group responded by firing a large number of rockets, local media reported.
It remains unclear if there were any casualties in the latest strikes.
Earlier this week, Israel’s security cabinet said stopping Hezbollah’s attacks in the country’s north to allow residents to return to their homes is now an official war goal, as it considers a wider military operation in Lebanon that could spark an all-out conflict. Israel has since sent a powerful fighting force to the northern border.
Hezbollah has maintained that it will halt its strikes only when a cease-fire is reached in Gaza.
The tit-for-tat strikes have forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
Israel and Hezbollah have traded fire regularly since Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel ignited the Israeli military’s devastating offensive in Gaza. But previous cross-border attacks have largely struck areas in northern Israel that had been evacuated and less-populated parts of southern Lebanon.
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Associated Press writer Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Hezbollah members carry the coffins of their comrades who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Women attend the funeral of Hezbollah fighters who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Hezbollah supporters carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed in Friday's Israeli strike, during his funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Hezbollah fighters carry wreaths during the funeral procession of their comrades who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man mourns during the funeral procession of Hezbollah members who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes that hit Al-Rihan mountain, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah fighters carry the coffins of their comrades who were killed in Friday's Israeli strike, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese citizens watch the smoke of Israeli airstrikes on Mahmoudiyeh mountains, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli shelling in Jabal al-Rihan, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Mahmoudiyeh mountains, as seen from Marjayoun town, south Lebanon, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli shelling in Jabal al-Rihan, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Emergency workers clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Relatives of the victims comfort each other near the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from Israeli shelling, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Smoke rises from Israeli shelling, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
The smoke trail from a Hezbollah rocket, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Damaged cars at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Smoke rises from Israeli shelling, seen from the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A damaged building at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers use an excavator to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Civil defense workers extinguish a fire as smoke rises from the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A man reacts as he speaks on the phone near the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Rescuers clear the rubble as they look for survivors at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Damaged cars at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Relatives of the victims react near the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese soldiers secure the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Rescuers at the scene a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A Lebanese soldier walks near an ambulance an a firefighter truck, securing the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Lebanese soldiers secure the area a day after an Israeli missile strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Friday's Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
