This 12 months’s BMW PGA Championship, which will get below method at Wentworth Membership on Thursday, marks a variety of important milestones for what was as soon as typically thought to be the flagship occasion within the European Tour’s aggressive calendar.
This 12 months’s renewal marks the seventieth version of the PGA Championship, an occasion with a historical past that spans again to 1955. It’s also the fortieth consecutive time that the event has been held at Wentworth, though the forty fourth by the membership general after the championship toured the nation for a number of years.
And at last, this week’s championship marks the twentieth 12 months of BMW’s title sponsorship, with the German automotive producer having began its assist in 2005.
SELL-OUT CROWD
The occasion is a sell-out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s play, with nicely over 100,000 folks anticipated to come back by way of Wentworth’s unique gates over the course of the week.
Fittingly, the championship has attracted a powerful area, with with 2023 Ryder Cup stars Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nicolai Højgaard, Robert MacIntyre, Justin Rose and Sepp Straka all within the beginning line-up.
Becoming a member of the heroes of Rome embrace European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, and 6 different previous BMW PGA Championship winners, together with Billy Horschel, Byeong Hun An, Matteo Manassero, Francesco Molinari, Alex Noren and Danny Willett.
Current winners Matt Wallace, who claimed his fifth DP World Tour title in Switzerland final week, and Irish Open champion Rasmus Højgaard will be a part of Main winner Adam Scott and PGA Tour winners Si Woo Kim and Peter Malnati, who will each be making their event debuts.
MCILROY LOOKS TO MAKE AMENDS
Rory McIlroy, talking simply three days after lacking out on profitable a second Irish Open, says he now has his sights set on profitable a second BMW PGA Championship title.
The Northern Irishman gained on the prestigious Surrey venue in 2014 and has since completed second twice, with two additional prime tens, and appears like he’s due a change of fortunes across the West Course.
“I’m glad for the chance to get again on the horse once more,” he mentioned throughout his pre-tournament press convention on Wednesday. “I feel there could also be a false impression that not profitable the Irish Open hit me tougher than it possibly did. You recognize, I didn’t actually really feel like I misplaced the event. I felt like Rasmus went out and gained it. He shot 31 on the again 9.”
“Clearly I’m simply making an attempt to search for the positives in all of it, however I really feel like my sport is in fairly fine condition and I really feel like I’ve one other likelihood to win a very massive event which means quite a bit to me.
It appears like fairly a very long time since I gained at Quail Hole again in Could, and I’ve come shut right here at Wnetworth a few instances. I used to be second to Francesco [Molinari] in 2018 and second to Shane [Lowry] in 2022. My type at this event over the previous few years has been superb. So it might be good to only get one other win on the board.
FOX ON THE PROWL
Twelve months in the past New Zealand’s Ryan Fox birdied the long-lasting pa5-5 18th gap on the West Course to take win the BMW PGA Championship, edging out the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai. Hatton gained’t be again this 12 months, having defected to LIV Golf, which has a clashing occasion in Frlida this week, though Rai, contemporary off a win on the PGA Tour, will fancy his probabilities of placing in one other robust exhibiting again on dwelling soil..
The primary spherical will get below method at 7am on Thursday, with the three-ball of Calum Hill, Matthew Jordan and Ockie Strydom first out for what guarantees to be 4 days of excessive octane motion round Wentworth’s historic heathland course.
