Out of the Rough: BMW PGA Championship (2025)

The third Rolex Series event of the DP World Tour season is upon us as the Tour takes to Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship.

This event joins the likes of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, Genesis Scottish Open, Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and DP World Tour Championship to serve as stops of the Rolex Series.

This event was originally known as the British PGA Championship and was first staged in 1955. Since the inception of the DP World Tour in 1972, the BMW PGA Championship has been a part of it.

This tournament was once held annually in May but when the US PGA Championship was moved to May in 2019, the DP World Tour made the decision to move the BMW PGA Championship to its fall slot.

The Field

Much like the American counterpart, this event will serve as the final tune-up for those serving Team Europe at the Ryder Cup at the end of this month.

With that being said, 11-of-the-12 members of Team Europe will be teeing it up this week, with Sepp Straka being the lone absentee.

Therefore, the likes of Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry and Justin Rose will each be playing this week. 

Team Europe Captain, Luke Donald, too will be teeing it up this week alongside 11-of-his-12 players to get a final look before heading to Bethpage.

The strong field continues with DP World Tour regulars John Parry, Laurie Canter, Keita Nakajima, Kristoffer Reitan and Marco Penge.

A slew of PGA Tour and LIV Golf regulars too will be teeing it up this week, including Hideki Matsuyama, Corey Conners, Jhonattan Vegas, Patrick Reed, Nicolai Hojgaard, Ryan Fox, Thriston Lawrence, Alex Noren, Brooks Koepka and Ryan Gerard.

Billy Horschel comes in as the defending champion, having topped both Lawrence and McIlroy in a play-off a season ago to claim his second BMW PGA Championship title. He also won in 2021. 

Other former champions of this event teeing it up this week include Fox (2023,) Lowry (2022,) Hatton (2020,) Danny Willett (2019,) Francesco Molinari (2018,) Noren (2017,) McIlroy (2014,) Matteo Manassero (2013) and Donald (2011 & 2012.) 

The Course

The West Course at Wentworth in Surrey, England plays as a Par 72 at 7,267 yards

It was designed by Harry Colt and opened in 1926. The course has since undergone a series of alterations. More recently, alterations have been under the guidance of Ernie Els.

Between 2009 and 2010, the greens were completely remodeled and the par five finishing hole was drastically changed.

The old 18th hole was once a sure-fire birdie and a great-eagle opportunity but with the addition of a large stream snaking its way in front of the green, it has now been changed to a stunning risk/reward finishing hole.

Wentworth is a tight, flat and tree-lined heathland designed course. The greens are tricky-to-read since the 2017 renewal and the renovations that took place prior.

The greens were once a bentgrass/poa annua blend but have since been replaced to a pure bentgrass, creating a faster and trickier putting surface. A brand-new sub-air system was also put into place to help keep the greens fast and dry.

Along with the changes to the greens, the bunkering throughout the course was changed in an attempt to restore the course closer to Colt’s original design. It was once believed that some of the bunkers throughout the years of renovations became too deep. 

Off-the-tee metrics aren’t the most worrisome this week outside of driving distance in order to set up better approach shots.

Although I will be taking putting into account for my model, we’ve seen plenty of victories with a mid-tier putter in hand.

In all, Wentworth is a tree-lined parkland design that uses water as its main line of defense. 

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, there is a 45-percent chance of precipitation on Thursday, 25-percent chance on Friday, 45-percent on Saturday and 45-percent on Sunday. Temperatures will begin at 64-degrees on Thursday before falling to 62-degrees on Friday and 61-degrees on Saturday before returning to 63-degrees on Sunday. Winds will begin at 16 miles-per-hour on Thursday and will settle to 13 miles-per-hour on Friday. Winds will then pick up to 17 miles-per-hour on Saturday before peaking at 22 miles-per-hour on Sunday. 

Key Stats

• Strokes Gained: Tee to Green (SG: TTG)

• Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP)

• Greens in Regulation (GIR%)

• Scrambling

• Average Driving Distance

• Bogey Avoidance

• Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT)

Betting Card

Matt Fitzpatrick (+3000)

Fitzpatrick has played two-of-the-last-three tournaments of the DP World Tour, placing sixth at the Betfred British Masters and fifth at the Omega European Masters. Prior to that he placed 17th at the BMW Championship, 32nd at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and eighth at the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour. On the DP World Tour he is currently second in SG: TTG, fourth in SG: PUTT, seventh in scrambling, ninth in SG: APP, 11th in average driving distance, 20th in GIR% and 34th in bogey avoidance. He placed 35th at this event a season ago, 18th in 2023, 42nd in 2022, 20th in 2021 and seventh in 2020.

Robert MacIntyre (+3000)

MacIntyre will be making his first post-PGA Tour season start on the DP World Tour this week. On the PGA Tour, MacIntyre most recently placed 17th at the TOUR Championship, second at the BMW Championship, 38th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship and 44th at the Wyndham Championship. On the PGA Tour, he is currently 28th in SG: TTG, 34th in SG: PUTT, 35th in GIR%, 40th in SG: APP, 41st in Bogey Avoidance, 58th in scrambling and 86th in average driving distance. He placed 12th at this event a season ago, 45th in 2023, 50th in 2022, missed the cut in 2021 and 58th in 2020.

Matt Wallace (+7500)

Wallace has played three-of-the-last-four events on the DP World Tour. He placed second in his latest start at the Omega European Masters, 33rd at the Betfred British Masters and 64th at the Danish Golf Championship. He also placed 27th at the Wyndham Championship and third at the 3M Open recently on the PGA Tour. On the PGA Tour he is currently 13th in scrambling, 44th in SG: TTG, 49th in bogey avoidance, 58th in SG: PUTT, 69th in average driving distance, 83rd in GIR% and 93rd in SG: APP. He placed 12th here a season ago, 57th in 2023, missed the cut in both 2022 and 2021 and placed 24th in 2020. 

John Parry (+20000)

Parry is currently second on the DP World Tour in SG: APP, eighth in bogey avoidance, 13th in SG: TTG, 15th in GIR%, 17th in scrambling, 102nd in SG: PUTT and 119th in average driving distance. He placed 29th last week at the Amgen Irish Open, 13th at the Omega European Masters, 43rd at the Betfred British Masters, third at the Nexo Championship and 16th at The Open Championship. He’ll be making his tournament debut this week.