Out of the Rough: BMW PGA Championship (2026)

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

Again, with the PGA Tour being idle for three weeks and now entering its FedEx Cup Fall series, we’ll see plenty of its regulars teeing it up in England this week.

Just as he did last week, Rory McIlroy will headline this week’s field. McIlroy won this event once, back in 2014.

Jon Rahm will help McIlroy headline the field as he makes his second consecutive start on the DP World Tour.

Other notable PGA Tour regulars playing this week include Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Ryan Gerard, J.J. Spaun, Brooks Koepka, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Ludvig Aberg, Viktor Hovland, Aaron Rai, Kristoffer Reitan, Alex Smalley, Bud Cauley, Ryan Fox, Alex Noren, Robert MacIntyre, Nicolai Hojgaard, Alex Fitzpatrick, Harry Hall, Jordan Smith, Adam Scott, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen among others. 

Joining Rahm as notable players from the LIV Golf Tour playing this week are Tyrrell Hatton, Joquin Niemann, Victor Perez, Adrian Meronk, David Puig, Elvis Smylie, Tom McKibbin and Thomas Detry.

Each of the current top ten of the DP World Tour regulars within the Race to Dubai Standings will also be playing this week. That list includes Patrick Reed, Eugenio Chacarra, Casey Jarvis, Jayden Schaper, Andy Sullivan, Bernd Wiesberger, Oliver Lindell, Jacob Skov Olesen, Daniel Hillier and Nacho Elvira.

Noren comes in as the defending champion, having topped Adrien Saddier in a playoff a season ago to claim his second BMW PGA Championship. He also won in 2017.

Other former winners of this event playing this week include Fox (2023,) Lowry (2022,) Hatton (2020,) Danny Willett (2019,) Francesco Molinari (2018,) Matteo Manassero (2013) and Luke Donald (2012 and 2013.)

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, Thursday currently calls for a 35-percent chance of morning showers. From there, Friday calls for just a ten-percent chance of precipitation as both Saturday and Sunday are calling for a 25-percent chance. Temperatures will be the lowest on Thursday with a high of 67-degrees. Temperature will bump up to 68-degrees for both Friday and Saturday before finishing the week at 69-degrees on Sunday. Winds will be the highest on Thursday at 13 miles-per-hour, coming out of the west, southwest. Winds will shift to 11 miles-per-hour on Friday coming out of the west. Winds will return to 12 miles-per-hour across the week, coming out of the west, southwest on Saturday and west 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)

• Par-5 Average Scoring

Betting Card

Check back Monday (9/14) for my full betting card!

2025 Betting Card

• Matt Fitzpatrick (+3000) - T5th

• Robert MacIntyre (+3000) - DNF

• Matt Wallace (+7500) - T46th

• John Parry (+20000) - MC

2024 Betting Card

• Adam Scott (+1300) - T57th

• Jordan Smith (+7500) - T18th

• Tom McKibbin (+8000) - T10th

• Jesper Svensson (+11000) - MC

• Rikuya Hoshino (+15000) - T40th

2023 Betting Card

• Tyrrell Hatton (+1800) - T2nd

• Shane Lowry (+2000) - T18th

• Adrian Meronk (+4000) - T28th

• Yannik Paul (+9000) - T45th