Out of the Rough: BMW PGA Championship (2026)
Updated: Sep 15
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
Matt Fitzpatrick (+1600)
On a statistics based approach, there is no one better in this entire field than Fitzpatrick. Who am I to question the stats? He finished the 2026 PGA Tour season third in SG: TTG, eighth in SG: APP, ninth in bogey avoidance, 13th in par-five average scoring, 17th in GIR%, 21st in scrambling, 53rd in SG: PUTT and 75th in average driving distance. Fitzpatrick last played the TOUR Championship on the PGA Tour where he placed 21st. He also recently placed 28th at the BMW Championship and 12th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on the PGA Tour. He was also fifth here a season ago. He placed 38th here in 2024, 18th in 2023, 42nd in 2022 and 20th in 2021.
Patrick Reed (+2500)
If you’re looking to avoid Golf Tips Checker’s wheel-of-death, steer clear from Reed as he will be the most tipped by a country mile. That is for good reason though if you’re just trying to find the best value and play for the week. Reed placed third at this event a season ago and fifth back in 2022. He also placed second last week at the Amgen Irish Open. Reed placed 11th at the Omega European Masters in his start prior. He is currently second on the DP World Tour in each of SG: TTG, SG: APP and par-five average scoring. He is also fourth in bogey avoidance, 11th in GIR%, 69th in SG: PUTT and 108th in average driving distance.
Alex Fitzpatrick (+5500)
With going to the top of the board with my first two plays I have to go long to round out this card. Fitzpatrick was my first click a week ago where he placed seventh. Prior to that he had last played the TOUR Championship on the PGA Tour where he finished fourth. On the PGA Tour, he finished the 2026 season 13th on Tour in SG: TTG, 16th in SG: APP, 19th in average driving distance, 24th in par-five average scoring, 45th in GIR%, 49th in scrambling, 50th in bogey avoidance and 114th in SG: PUTT.
Jordan Smith (+9000)
This is a guy I was really interested in betting on last week but the number was way too short and he eventually went on to miss the cut at the Amgen Irish Open. Now, he’s sitting at 90/1 this week and I couldn’t leave that out there. He finished the 2026 PGA Tour season fourth in GIR%, 26th in SG: TTG, 33rd in average driving distance, 34th in bogey avoidance, 39th in SG: APP, 62nd in par-five average scoring, 85th in scrambling and 126th in SG: PUTT. Prior to last week’s Amgen Irish Open, he last played the FedEx St. Jude Championship on the PGA Tour where he placed 55th. He also placed 14th at the Wyndham Championship, 31st at the Rocket Classic, 39th at the 3M Open, 18th at The Open Championship and 21st at the Genesis Scottish Open.
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
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