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Wade Ormsby is a single shot behind leader Andres Romero going into the final round of the European Masters in Switzerland.

The Australian golfer's three-under 67 in Saturday's third round featured an eagle on the par-7 seventh but was bookended by bogeys, and puts him on 13-under going into the decider at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club in Crans-Montana.

Ormsby, 39, solidified his hold on second place after moving there in the previous round.

Argentine leader Romero's hopes looked to be fading when he dropped three shots in his opening five holes and Rory McIlroy and Ormsby established a two-shot lead.

But as McIlroy and Ormsby produced late stumbles, Romero came home in 31 to sign for a 66 and lead the way at 14-under.

The 38-year-old produced a brilliant run of scoring on the back nine, going birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the 13th to edge a shot ahead of Ormsby.

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood had bogeyed the second, third and sixth playing alongside Romero but birdied the ninth, 12th, 14th, 15th and 17th to sit at 12 under alongside Malaysia's Gavin Green.

"After a lot of pressure at the beginning I'm happy with the way I reacted," the two-times European Tour winner said.

Romero's Australian rival will be hoping to catch him up in the deciding round after his collapses at last week's Scandinavian Invitational.

Ormsby was sitting one shot back from Erik van Rooyen heading into the final round in Sweden, but slipped down to fifth after an error-strewn one-under 69 in the last stanza.

World No.2 McIlroy arrived in Crans-Montana just hours after lifting the FedEx Cup in Atlanta on the PGA Tour and showed signs of fatigue as he bogeyed three of his last five holes to sit three shots off the lead after a round of 69.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Lorenzo Gagli and Kalle Samooja were also at 11 under, a shot clear of major champion Sergio Garcia and Renato Paratore, Matthias Schwab and Sebastian Soderberg.

Rory McIlroy has opened up a golfing rivalry for the ages after his Tour Championship victory delivered a stunning $US15 million pay day as he chased down world No.1 Brooks Koepka.

McIlroy admitted his motivation to beat Koepka at the US PGA Tour's season finale was a crushing defeat to the big-hitting American at the World Golf Championships event in Tennessee in July.

But on Sunday, McIlroy pulled the rug from underneath 54-hole leader Koepka while paired with him in the final group at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

McIlroy, the 2016 play-offs winner, carded a four-under 66 to finish at 18-under-par and four shots clear of American Xander Schauffele (70).

Koepka (72) and Justin Thomas (68) shared third at 13 under.

Australian Adam Scott's 66 was the the equal low round of the day, alog with McIlroy, and lifted him to sixth place at eight under - securing a $US1.9m ($A2.8m) in FedEx Cup bonus money.

The turning point in the final round came when Koepka, who held an early one-shot lead, lost a ball from an errant tee shot at the seventh hole and made double-bogey six.

McIlroy made a timely birdie on the same hole to steal the lead in a three-shot swing and the Northern Irishman never looked back.

McIlroy said he was driven by blowing the 54-hole lead to final group partner Koepka at the WGC-Invitational in Memphis.

"Once I saw I was in the final group with Brooks, it just took me back to Memphis a few weeks ago," McIlroy said.

"It gave me that little bit of extra motivation to right some wrongs.

"Brooks went out there in Memphis and shot 65 and just basically dominated the tournament, dominated me.

"I realised if I want to become the dominant player in the world again, I need to be more like him."

With McIlroy's 17th US PGA Tour win, he moves to world No.2 and within striking distance of top-ranked Koepka.

Both are four-time major winners and their battles are shaping up to be a rivalry not seen in golf since Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson duelled from the late 1990s to the late 2000s.

"Brooks is a great player. He's turned into a heck of a player over the last couple of years, and I definitely expect more Sundays like that between the both of us in the future," McIlroy said.

The Tour Championship win caps a stellar season for McIlroy, who was victorious at the elite Players Championship - regarded as golf's unofficial fifth major - as well as the prestigious Canadian Open.

McIlroy also appears a lock to claim a third PGA Tour Player of The Year award.

The 30-year-old also finished the PGA Tour season with top-10s in 73.7 per cent of his starts - the highest percentage for any player since Englishman Luke Donald posted the same percentage in 2011.

"I think I've given myself so many chances and to win three times is awesome," McIlroy said.

"I feel like I could have won more but to win the FedEx Cup again, to persist the whole way throughout the year, to keep giving myself chances even when I was getting knocked back, I'm very proud of myself.

"I'm going to enjoy this one tonight."

Australia's Marc Leishman shot a 67 to finish tied for 24th at two over to take home $450,500 ($A670,800).

US PGA Tour officials have been forced to explain why tee times were not adjusted to forecasted storms after a lightning strike led to the injuries of six people at East Lake Golf Club during round three at the Tour Championship.

At 4.45pm on Saturday, two lightning strikes shook the Atlanta course - one hitting a tree beside the 16th hole at East Lake.

Debris falling from the tree injured four people, who were immediately treated by paramedics before two more people received attention.

The injured people were transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital but PGA Tour officials stated the injuries were not life threatening.

On Friday night, thunderstorms were forecast to hit Atlanta from 3pm on Saturday but third round tee times for the 30-player tournament were not brought forward.

The final group teed off at 3.20pm on Saturday with play suspended at 4.17pm due to inclement weather.

Officials then suspended play for the rest of the day and it is scheduled to resume at 8am on Sunday morning.

Mark Russell, a vice president of rules at the US PGA Tour, said moving up tee times was never a consideration because weather forecast only showed chance of "pop-up thunderstorms".

The TV broadcast window was 2.30pm to 7pm on American network NBC.

"We had a situation where they were pop-up thunderstorms," Russell said in an impromptu press conference.

"We have a meteorologist on staff with very sophisticated equipment; we can monitor that and a lot of times we get lucky and we don't get hit with thunderstorms."

Russell was asked by a reporter if moving tee times forward would have been a better means of mitigating safety risks of bad weather, rather than "dealing with luck".

"I think if we did that every time we had a possibility of thunderstorms in the southeast (of the US) we'd (have to) do that basically every time we played golf," Russell said.

Tyler Dennis, a senior vice president of competitions for the PGA Tour, said: "We have a professional meteorologist that's on site every week on all of our tours, forecasting the weather.

"The safety that goes along with it ... is critical to us. When it comes down to suspension of play ... we don't leave any room for error there. Safety is a huge priority for us."

A statement from the PGA Tour was issued shortly after the six injured fans were taken to hospital.

"At 4:45 p.m., there were two lightning strikes at East Lake Golf Club; a tree near the range/15 green/16 tee was hit, and debris from that strike injured four people," a statement from the US PGA Tour read.

"EMT tended to those fans and two others immediately and transported them from the property via ambulance for further medical attention. Our latest report is that their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.

"The safety of our fans, players and partners is of the utmost importance. We will provide further updates as they become available."

Tour Championship leader Brooks Koepka believes golfers are held to an unfair standard of behaviour after negative online reactions to his nude photoshoot for ESPN's The Body Issue shoot continue.

When Koepka arrived at East Lake Golf Club before a weather-interrupted second round, he found printed copies of his naked pose stuck on his car parking space by fellow players pranking him in jest.

"There will be revenge," joked Koepka, whose 67 gave him a 13-under-par total and a one-shot lead over Rory McIlroy (67) and Justin Thomas (68).

But that was not what bothered the big-hitting world No.1.

What puzzles Koepka is that many online reactions to his posing nude for The Body Issue suggest legendary golfers such as 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus and the late Arnold Palmer would never have agreed to the shoot.

Koepka posted the first image of himself naked on social media on Wednesday night, promoting the September release of the magazine which features athletes in nude and semi-nude photographs.

"I've gotten a lot of people on Twitter and Instagram (asking), 'How in the world could you do this? You never see Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus and guys like that doing that.'

"It blows my mind; golf is the only sport where you're compared to guys from other generations and how they acted, not where they are on the golf course. Golf is pretty weird that way.

"If they had social media back then, I think it would be a lot different for them, too.

"I couldn't care less what people say online. If you've got people hating you, you're doing something right."

The new-look Tour Championship format saw players start the tournament with adjusted scores based on their season-long FedEx Cup rank.

Now the event is underway, four-time major winner McIlroy is confident of reeling in Koepka over the weekend.

"I played well the last two days at seven-under-par (66, 67)," McIlroy said.

"If we were all starting at even par, I think that would be tied for the lead right now with (England's) Paul Casey; I just need to keep doing what I'm doing."

Meanwhile, the Australian contingent sits well behind after two rounds.

Adam Scott's even-par 70 left him at five-under, while countryman Marc Leishman's 73 dropped him to three-over the card.

Wade Ormsby has holed a 4-iron from 196 yards for an eagle on his way to shooting a bogey-free, eight-under 62 at the Scandinavian Masters, giving him the first-round lead in the European Tour event.

The Australian's eagle at the par-4 14th hole came in an opening-nine 28, after starting his round at No.10 at the Hills Golf Club in Gothenburg on Thursday.

He also rolled in six birdies, including three straight from the 16th hole.

Alexander Levy of France also went out in 28 and made eight birdies in total in his 63, leaving him in a share of second place with Joakim Lagergren of Sweden.

Matthew Fitzpatrick was alone in fourth place, two shots off the lead, after a 64.

Henrik Stenson was the headline player in the field but, playing in his home country, the Swede mixed four birdies with three bogeys and shot 69.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan believes US President Donald Trump is "thinking about" a visit to Australia for his namesake event at Royal Melbourne in December.

Monahan, who played golf with Trump in New Jersey last week, says Trump has an open invitation to attend the biennial teams event to be held December 12-15.

Trump visited the 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National in New Jersey.

He was the first sitting President to attend the Cup since Bill Clinton visited the 2000 edition in Virginia.

In 2017, Trump was also the first President to present the trophy in the Cup's then 23-year history.

"Yes ... I would love to see him there (in Australia)," Monahan told reporters on Tuesday morning at the Tour Championship.

"He knows he has the invitation and he is thinking about it.

"He has a very busy schedule; whether or not he could do that.

"(But) he is very curious about both teams and takes a lot of pride in the event, given the experience (he had) in 2017."

Monahan's invitation follows that of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who asked Trump to attend when they had a private dinner together in June.

Trump was asked by an Australian reporter during the open remarks at the start of that meeting if he would attend the golf tournament and replied: "I'd like to."

The Presidents Cup invites the heads of state from the host country to be honorary chairs of the event and all have accepted over the years.

Monahan played golf last week at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

They were joined by Trump's public liaison, Andrew Giuliani, as well as Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley, NBC Sports president Pete Bevacqua and chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Jay Clayton.

"It was great golf match and we had a wonderful time," Monahan said at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

"I played this year and last year. I was invited both instances and I quickly said yes.

"Any time I get asked to play with the President ... it's an awesome opportunity. We have great respect for the office of the presidency and he loves the game of golf."

Professional golf stars such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have faced intense scrutiny for playing golf with Trump from fans and media who disagree with Trump's policies and demeanour.

But Monahan said playing golf with Trump was not a political decision.

"Was I concerned about criticism? I'm concerned about criticism for everything.

"But he has been a great supporter of the Presidents Cup. He loves our game and he has a relationship with a lot of our players.

"For me, I'm not there for political reasons. I'm there to support him."

Justin Thomas is in the driver's seat to secure a $US15 million payday this week after his BMW Championship win sent him to the top of the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings.

Thomas began the final day at Chicago's Medinah CC with a six-shot lead and appeared shaky, but signed for a 68 and at 25-under-par (263) earned a three-shot win from Patrick Cantlay (65).

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama's stunning 63 left him in third at 20 under, while Australia's Adam Scott (67) tied for ninth at 14 under.

Thomas also shattered Medinah's course record with a 61 in the third round, eclipsing the 65 Matsuyama shot one day prior.

Former world No.1 Thomas secured his 10th US PGA Tour title and first within 12 months, while moving up to world No.5.

"I was really nervous going into today, it had been a while (since winning)," Thomas said.

"I remembered how hard it is to win a golf tournament."

Thomas' win catapults him into the FedEx Cup lead and he will take a two-stroke lead into the start of the Tour Championship under its bizarre new format.

The 26-year-old will tee off in the first round at the Tour Championship with a 10-under-par total.

The next four players on the points list will start at eight-under through five-under, respectively, while Nos. 6-10 will start at four-under.

The total will regress by one stroke every five players until those ranked 26th through 30th start at even par.

From there, the winner claims the Tour Championship and the $US15 million bonus for the FedEx Cup title.

Thomas won the FedEx Cup trophy in 2017 under a previous format and pocketed a $US10 million bonus.

"I've never slept on a Wednesday lead," Thomas joked about starting a first round already leading.

"I think it has the potential to be extremely intense leaderboard come the final round.

"I'm going to try not to look at the leaderboards for the first couple days and just try to shoot as low as I can."

Meanwhile, Australian Jason Day's season is over with his tie for 52nd ensuring he is not among the top 30 on the FedEx standings who qualify for the Tour Championship.

Scott, 13th on the FedEx, and Leishman (21st) will be the only Australians in the field at the season finale at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

Phil Mickelson had a wild Sunday and that was before he showed up for the BMW Championship.

Mickelson said on Twitter that lightning struck the hotel where he was staying, leading to an evacuation.

One problem: He was staying on the top floor, his clubs were in his room and his 10.52am tee time at Medinah was approaching.

"Kind of a funny deal," Mickelson said after ending his season with a 71 to fail to reach the Tour Championship.

"The building got struck by lightning right above me and blew out a brick chimney and caught fire a little bit. There were 10 fire trucks.

"I got in my car and left and couldn't get back. The roads were closed and the hotel was closed."

Mickelson didn't sound as though he were overly concerned, saying it would have meant heading home to San Diego that much sooner.

"But things cleared up pretty quickly," he said. "I was able to get back in and get my stuff."

Mickelson eventually got to the course in time to change shoes in the parking lot, but not after a tweet saying that his clubs served as a fire retardant.

He headed to the range to warm up, pausing only to answer the phone when his wife called to check on him.

He told her at one point, "I tweeted it."

By the end of the day, Mickelson said everything worked out fine "except for my score."

After winning at Pebble Beach in February, Mickelson had only one finish inside the top 20 the rest of the year, a tie for 18th at the Masters.

His eight missed cuts were the most for him since 1995.

He failed to qualify for the Presidents Cup team and could be left off a US team for the first time since 1993, with captain Tiger Woods to make his four wildcard picks on November 5.

Mickelson wasn't ready to comment on whether he would talk to Woods about being an assistant, saying he was mentally and physically tired and needed time to decompress.

"I've had a rough four, five months, probably the worse four, five months stretch of my career," he said.

"I'm looking forward to having a couple months off and kind of regrouping and come back fresh."

Jason Day faces a weekend fight to avoid an embarrassing end to his US PGA Tour season at the BMW Championship in Chicago.

With a lowly 50th FedEx Cup points rank, Day is staring down the possibility of missing next week's Tour Championship for the first time in seven years.

The former world No.1 is also in danger of missing out on the top eight qualifiers for the Presidents Cup.

After a one-under 71 in the second round at Chicago's Medinah Country Club, Day sits at three-under-par and nine shots back of 36-hole leader Hideki Matsuyama.

Matsuyama smashed Medinah's course record by two shots during a nine-under 63 to top the leaderboard at 12-under.

Day needs at least a share of fourth place at the BMW to climb into the top 30 on the FedEx standings and avoid missing the play-offs finale for the first time since 2012.

"My ultimate goal is to get to Tour Champs; I need to get myself in contention somehow this weekend," Day told AAP.

"It's been a long and frustrating year; especially on the greens. My putting has not as good as it normally is."

Day is also ninth on the International team standings for The Presidents Cup in December, and the eight automatic qualifiers are finalised after the conclusion of the BMW.

Day requires at least a finish of 19th this week to climb back into the eight top eight on the International team standings.

It would be humbling for Day to require a captain's pick given he has regularly been the top-ranked player on the International team in four appearances at the biennial teams event.

"I'm not even worrying about (The Presidents Cup) right now; I need to get myself somewhere into the mix here at the BMW," Day said.

"It's unfortunate that I'm in this position, but I want to get on the team any way I can.

"Obviously, my preference would be to earn it and give our team the best shot at winning."

Tiger Woods' US PGA Tour season is on life support after two lacklustre rounds at the BMW event have left him in danger of missing next week's Tour Championship.

World No.6 Woods, who won the Masters in April to rubberstamp his comeback from spinal fusion surgery, entered this week's BMW Championship at 38th on the FedEx Cup standings.

But after consecutive rounds of one-under-par 71s at Chicago's Medinah CC, Woods is projected to need a finish of at least 11th to climb inside the top 30 on the FedEx standings, who qualify for the Tour Championship.

Failing to do so would mean Woods would not defend the Tour Championship title he claimed last year, which was his 80th PGA Tour win and first since 2013.

Woods is going to have to go lights-out during the weekend rounds at Medinah, the 7,600-yard course on which he won the 1999 and 2006 US PGA Championship.

"I'm going to have to have a great weekend and make a lot of birdies this week and post some rounds in the mid-60s to give myself a chance at it," Woods said.

Woods' ball-striking was superb on Friday (Saturday AEST), finding 11 of 14 fairways and hitting 13 greens in regulation.

But his short game was poor, saving par just once in the five times he missed the green, while he is ranked near the bottom of the BMW field for putting.

Failing to make the play-offs finale would be a disappointing end to Woods' US PGA Tour season, given he completed arguably the greatest individual sporting comeback in history with his 15th major victory in April at Augusta National.

But since then, Woods has teed up in just six tournaments and missed the cut in two of them - the US PGA Championship at Bethpage in May and US Open at Pebble Beach in June.

Both were venues Woods had previously won majors at.

Woods' ailing back is starting to catch up with him after spending 10 months in hiatus in 2017 while he recovered from spinal fusion surgery.

The 43-year-old admitted he is unable to practice as much as he would like.

"Practice is one of the more difficult things because I'm trying to figure out how am I going to practice a lot and train and get treatment and take care of the kids, and there's a lot to it," he said.