This year’s BMW PGA Championship, which gets under way at Wentworth Club on Thursday, marks a number of significant milestones for what was once generally regarded as the flagship event in the European Tour’s competitive calendar.
This year’s renewal marks the 70th edition of the PGA Championship, an event with a history that spans back to 1955. It is also the 40th consecutive time that the tournament has been held at Wentworth, although the 44th by the club overall after the championship toured the country for several years.
And finally, this week’s championship marks the 20th year of BMW’s title sponsorship, with the German car manufacturer having started its support in 2005.
SELL-OUT CROWD
The event is a sell-out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s play, with well over 100,000 people expected to come through Wentworth’s exclusive gates over the course of the week.
Fittingly, the championship has attracted a strong field, with with 2023 Ryder Cup stars Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nicolai Højgaard, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka all in the starting line-up.
Joining the heroes of Rome include European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, and six other past BMW PGA Championship winners, including Billy Horschel, Byeong Hun An, Matteo Manassero, Francesco Molinari, Alex Noren and Danny Willett.
Recent winners Matt Wallace, who claimed his fifth DP World Tour title in Switzerland last week, and Irish Open champion Rasmus Højgaard will join Major winner Adam Scott and PGA Tour winners Si Woo Kim and Peter Malnati, who will both be making their tournament debuts.
MCILROY LOOKS TO MAKE AMENDS
Rory McIlroy, speaking just three days after missing out on winning a second Irish Open, says he now has his sights set on winning a second BMW PGA Championship title.
The Northern Irishman won at the prestigious Surrey venue in 2014 and has since finished second twice, with two further top tens, and feels like he is due a change of fortunes around the West Course.
“I’m glad for the opportunity to get back on the horse again,” he said during his pre-tournament press conference on Wednesday. “I think there may be a misconception that not winning the Irish Open hit me harder than it maybe did. You know, I didn’t really feel like I lost the tournament. I felt like Rasmus went out and won it. He shot 31 on the back nine.”
“Obviously I’m just trying to look for the positives in all of it, but I feel like my game is in pretty good shape and I feel like I have another chance to win a really big tournament that means a lot to me.
It feels like quite a long time since I won at Quail Hollow back in May, and I’ve come close here at Wnetworth a couple of times. I was second to Francesco [Molinari] in 2018 and second to Shane [Lowry] in 2022. My form at this tournament over the last few years has been very good. So it would be nice to just get another win on the board.
FOX ON THE PROWL
Twelve months ago New Zealand’s Ryan Fox birdied the iconic pa5-5 18th hole on the West Course to take win the BMW PGA Championship, edging out the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai. Hatton won’t be back this year, having defected to LIV Golf, which has a clashing event in Frlida this week, although Rai, fresh off a win on the PGA Tour, will fancy his chances of putting in another strong showing back on home soil..
The first round gets under way at 7am on Thursday, with the three-ball of Calum Hill, Matthew Jordan and Ockie Strydom first out for what promises to be four days of high octane action around Wentworth’s historic heathland course.