The flagship event of the European Tour takes place this week as the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth begins on Thursday. This event is steeped in history and is one of just two England based events on the Tour this year.
Often this is the best field for a regular European Tour event although this isn’t the strongest renewal. This is a strange year with the movement of the majors to accommodate for the Olympics though. One man who is here is the defending champion Byeong-Hun An.
Recent Winners
2015 – Byeong-Hun An
2014 – Rory McIlroy
2013 – Matteo Manassero
2012 – Luke Donald
2011 – Luke Donald
2010 – Simon Khan
2009 – Paul Casey
2008 – Miguel Angel Jimenez
2007 – Anders Hansen
2006 – David Howell
The Course
Wentworth Club in Surrey is the focal point of the European Tour. It has headquarters there and the golf course is always immaculately maintained. The course underwent some renovations a few years ago which Ernie Els helped to oversee to turn the finishing hole into a wonderful risk and reward hole but the characteristics of the course never changed.
The course plays to a par of 72 and a yardage now of 7,284. It remains a treelined track with tight fairways and smallish greens which really need to be hit in regulation if you want to compile a score. It is quirky in that it finishes with two par 5s which can make for plenty of drama over the weekend.
The greens aren’t the fastest so you generally find players putt well around here but the key is keeping the ball in play throughout and managing the wind, which is sure to blow again this week.
The Field
The field is headlined this week by Masters champion Danny Willett in the absence of Rory McIlroy. It certainly looks a weaker field without McIlroy and Justin Rose among others such as Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter to name some others but there are still some big names supporting Willett.
Twice former champion Luke Donald is back to try and win the title. He has been showing good form back in America which will give him plenty of encouragement on a track he knows so well and loves.
There are other major champions throughout the field too. Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie, YE Yang and Darren Clarke are all in the field and hoping to go well with the first two named having every chance if they putt well.
Market Leaders
The field this week is headed by the Masters champion Danny Willett who will be ruing not closing the door out in Ireland last week. The effort showed that despite all that is going on in his life having become a major champion he still retains his level of quality at this level. He is a worthy 14/1 favourite for the week.
Shane Lowry is in the field too. The 2014 runner-up will be looking to go a step better here and having been in early contention at both The Masters and The Players Championship he’s entitled to be in the mix this week although he does need to solve his putting demons. He is 16/1 to win the title.
Russell Knox is the same price as Lowry off the back of a solid week in Ireland. He has his eyes on the Ryder Cup later in the year and he has a chance to make a real impression on the team standings this week.
Francesco Molinari begins the week at 18/1 with Martin Kaymer at 22/1. A trio of players are 25/1. They are the defending champion Byeong-Hun An, Luke Donald and Rafael Cabrera-Bello. It is 30/1 bar those named starting the week.
Main Bets
I’m going with three main bets this week. I do feel we will get a big name winner of this event as we so often do hence the extra solid punt on the tournament. With McIlroy and a few other big names missing the market is pretty cramped so value is at a premium it must be said.
I’ve had my eye on Francesco Molinari for this tournament for a while. I was praying that he wouldn’t deliver anything eye catching in the American events he has played but sadly in terms of a price he went very well at The Players Championship and that is reflected in the 18/1 quotes about him this week.
There isn’t much value there but the price is just about acceptable in that a) at least we know he is in decent form going into this tournament and b) we know he loves it around here as he has been inside the top 10 in each of the last four years and in much deeper fields in terms of quality than this one is.
Molinari doesn’t play a whole lot in Europe these days but last year his results when he did play were very eye catching. He was second in Spain, fifth here, sixth in France and fourth in Dubai at the end of the season. He ticks all the boxes here so even at 18/1 he’s my first main bet.
Lee Westwood and myself have history in this tournament. I backed him in 2013 when he led the field going into the final round only to lose the radar and allow Matteo Manassero through to claim the victory but his encouraging recent form has sent me back for more.
Westy was second in The Masters recently and in the top 10 last week where he could have been so much better but we know Westwood hits a lot of fairways and greens and if he putts like he did at Augusta he is surely a major runner.
Westwood has three top 10s in the last six years here and five of them in total so this is a course he goes well on and at 28/1 he is a live contender this week.
Joost Luiten’s form has been hard to ignore this season. I’ve just been waiting for a real tee to green course to get stuck into him on and finally that has arrived some I’m expecting a big showing from him here.
Luiten was tied for fifth in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and in Abu Dhabi this season and has followed that up with a tied eighth in Dubai, sixth in Thailand and a pair of runners up in Spain and Shenzhen. All the Dutchman has lacked is the win.
That could well come this week though. He hits a lot of fairways and is inside the top 15 in greens in regulation which is exactly the deal this week so at 40/1 I can’t avoid a punt on the Dutchman.
Outsiders
I’m also going to take a pair of outsiders who have the ability to outperform their large prices. In years gone by the likes of Ross Fisher and Alejandro Canizares would have been on my shortlist here but their tee to green game isn’t at full tilt so I’ll head elsewhere.
Andrew Johnston has already won a big event this year when he landed the Open de Espana and there is nothing stopping him being competitive here. That win in Spain was coming because prior to that he had a couple of tournaments where he was deep in contention and couldn’t quite get over the line.
Now that he has got over the line he has nothing to fear. ‘Beef’ is 16th in greens in regulation on the European Tour which is an outstanding effort having played the number of rounds that he has this season. If his long game is in good shape he’s a live outsider.
Marcel Siem is completely hit and miss but there have been a couple of times this year where he has been hit. He was fifth in Abu Dhabi earlier in the season in a really strong field where he was fourth for greens hit and then he was third in China where he was inside the top 20 in that statistic too so when he hits the greens he goes well.
The German won on a treelined course similar to this one in Morocco in 2013 and has two top seven finishes in the last four years here. There is something about treelined courses which seem to bring out the best in him and if he has his best stuff with him this week he might not be too far away.
Tips
Back F.Molinari to win BMW PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back L.Westwood to win BMW PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back M.Siem to win BMW PGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back J.Luiten to win BMW PGA Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-6)
Back him here:
Back A.Johnston to win BMW PGA Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 111.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-6)
Back him here:
