Why BMW PGA and Wentworth is marriage made in heaven for players and golf fans

There’s a good reason why you’ve maybe heard some of the world’s top golfers over the past few days either talking or posting on social media about how enjoyable it had been to be at Wentworth Club for the BMW PGA Championship.

It’s because the event, which was being staged on this occasion for the 20th time under the car giant’s title sponsorship, is not just one of the best on the DP World Tour but in the game full stop.

From a player perspective, it’s a venue they simply love visiting and that, it has to be said with all due respect to its owners, who are now Chinese, is despite it having a practice area that is far from ideal.

Rory McIlroy lays his second shot on the 18th hole during the second play-off hole in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. Picture: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images.

It’s very tight in terms of space and players are even discouraged from hitting drivers on one side due to the fact that doing so would result in golf balls ending up in the garden of one of the very plush properties on the Wentworth Estate.

On Wednesday, when the professionals, caddies, coaches, managers etc are joined there to batter some balls by the amateurs taking part in the pro-am, it’s also like Piccadilly Circus or Trafalgar Square about 25 miles to the east.

In contrast, the West Course is a vast chunk of property and, though this correspondent was left a broken man after playing it on the one and only occasion more than a decade ago, you can see how proper players love the challenge it provides.

It’s a course that demands top-quality ball-striking combined with some imagination at times, though a bit like Augusta National, we are constantly being reminded how much further players are hitting the ball these days.

Rory McIlroy interacts with fans during the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images.

Edinburgh man Jamie Kennedy, who works for Golf Digest, posted a video last week of Seve Ballesteros hitting a 5-iron for his second shot from the flat area on the first fairway in a play-off in 1991 and what a shot it was to a couple of feet from the hole.

Now, though, players are bombing drives over the hill, even though they are likely to be faced with a second shot from the rough from one of the worst hanging lies you could imagine to a raised green. In the final round, Rory McIlroy only had 118 yards to the pin for his second shot.

The fourth, the first of the four par 5s on the iconic Harry Colt layout, is a bit of a pushover, having yielded no less than 34 eagles over the four days on this occasion, but that certainly can’t be said of either the 17th or 18th.

Some reckon sticks of dynamite are required to improve the 17th as a golf hole and the fact the fairway drops steeply to the right in the landing area for drives then curls around from right to left probably wouldn’t be how a modern-day designer would lay out the hole.

That said, watching McIlroy, one of the best drivers in the game, being intimidated on the tee on the opening two days as a pair of pulled blows hit the trees before bouncing back out showed it provides excitement for the fans, as did Bob MacIntyre as he hit a “wee slider” when taking a driver off the deck to set up an eagle in the opening round.

As for the 18th, it’s got potential drama written all over it because, even if a player finds the middle of the fairway with a tee shot that can easily be overcooked either right though, more than often, left, they are still faced with one of the toughest approaches in the game.

Just ask McIlroy. Nine times out of ten, he’d probably have found the green with the 4-iron he hit from that position on Sunday when needing a birdie to become a Wentworth winner again only to deliver a slinging hook that was fortunate not to end up in the water.

With all due respect to eventual winner Billy Horschel as he landed the coveted title for a second time in three years, there was absolutely no denying who the majority of the people in a huge crowd wanted to see come out on top on this particular occasion.

On the back of being punched in the face, so to speak, in both the US Open and Irish Open since landing his most recent title triumph in May, McIlroy had spoken all week about the fantastic support he’d received from outside the ropes and it was probably one of the loudest roars I’ve ever heard on a golf course as he rolled in a lengthy eagle putt at the 17th in that final round.

It should be no surprise, of course, that a tournament boasting star players in the most-densely populated area of the UK attracts a big attendance, but, a bit like Loch Lomond when it hosted the Scottish Open, a day out at Wentworth is almost an attraction in itself for spectators.

“Getting to see how the other half live” is something you are likely to hear muttered every now and again and what a thrill it must be for Scotland’s own Bernard Gallacher to have a statue close to the first tee to mark his lengthy stint as the club’s head professional.

Another West Lothian man, Stuart Boyle, is now the club manager after stepping up earlier this year from the director of golf and, along with various other Scots, including head greenkeeper Kenny Mackay as well as lots of DP World Tour staff members, it’s easy to see why there’s a real sense of pride being involved in staging such a wonderful tournament in every single aspect.

Count me in for being back again in 12 months’ time.