This year's BMW PGA Championship, which starts at Wentworth Club on Thursday, marks a number of milestones in what has been considered a routine. i the biggest event on the European Tour's competitive calendar.
This year's renewal marks the 70th edition of the PGA Championship, an event with a history dating back to 1955. It is also the 40th time in a row that the tournament has been held at Wentworth, although it is the team's 44th overall after the championship tournament. country for several years.
Finally, this week's championship marks the 20th year of BMW's title sponsorship, which the German automaker began supporting in 2005.
THE SELLING CROWD
The event will be a sell-out run on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with more than 100,000 people expected to enter the special gates at Wentworth during the week.
Appropriately, the tournament attracted a strong field, 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 first round.
Joining the Roman heroes include European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, and six other BMW PGA Championship qualifiers, 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, both of whom will be making their debuts in the tournament.
MCILROY LOOKS TO MAKE AMENDMENTS
Rory McIlroy, speaking just three days after missing out on a second Irish Open win, says he is now determined to win a second BMW PGA Championship title.
The Northern Irishman won at the prestigious Surrey venue in 2014 and has finished second twice, with another top twenty, and feels he is about to turn his fortunes around on the West Course.
“I'm happy to have the opportunity to ride a horse again,” he said at a press conference before the competition on Wednesday. “I think there might be a misconception that not winning the Irish Open hit me harder than it would have. You know, I didn't really feel that I lost in this competition. I felt like Rasmus went out and won it. He shot a 31 on the back nine. “
“Obviously I'm just trying to look at the positives in everything, but I feel like my game is in great shape and I feel like I still have another chance to win a really big tournament which means a lot to me.
It feels like a long time ago that I won at Quail Hollow back in May, and I've come close here at Wnetworth a few times. I was second to Francesco [Molinari] in 2018 and second for Shane [Lowry] in 2022. My form in this tournament in the last few years has been very good. So it would be nice to get another win on the board.
Fox IN THE WORLD
Twelve months ago New Zealand's Ryan Fox birdied the par5-5 18th hole on the West Course to win the BMW PGA Championship, edging out the English pair of Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai. Hatton will not be back this year, having defected from LIV Golf, with a clash in Florida this week, although Rai, fresh off a win on the PGA Tour, will relish the opportunity to play well at home. soil..
The first round kicks off at 7am on Thursday, with the trio of Calum Hill, Matthew Jordan and Ockie Strydom leading the way in what promises to be four days of high-octane action at the hotly contested Wentworth venue.
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