With no PGA Tour action taking place this week, it’s the DP World Tour’s turn to shine and the spotlight falls on Wentworth Club and the famous West Course, which hosts the BMW PGA Championship for the 41st consecutive season.
The home of the European Tour HQ, Wentworth always attracts a stellar field and this year is no different with PGA Tour heavyweights Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood the main attractions at the Surrey venue.
McIlroy, the 11/2 favourite to double up at a course where he won in 2014, must quickly recover from last week’s meltdown at the Irish Open, in which he blew a four-shot lead as Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard tracked him down on the back nine in the final round.
Harry Colt’s West Course, an iconic venue in European golf, plays to McIlroy’s strengths in that it’s a demanding tee-to-green test, but it remains to be seen as to whether he can quickly recover from the mental setback he suffered at Royal County Down.
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BMW PGA Championship Golf Tips
Adam Scott to win & each-way @ 12/1
McIlroy could easily bounce back and win in a Wentworth field which, while not short of quality, is not as strong as last season’s tournament when all 12 members of Europe’s Ryder Cup team teed it up.
However, preference is for veteran PGA Tour professional Adam Scott, who arrives in the UK on a fine run of form.
At first glance, Scott is a surprising entrant but the Aussie has featured in this tournament in each of the last three seasons and produced his best result last year as he finished seventh behind Ryan Fox despite a lacklustre week on the greens.
This time, Scott returns in red-hot form – finishing second in the Scottish Open, tenth at the Open, 18th at the St Jude Championship, second at the BMW Championship and fourth in the Tour Championship – and he is well suited to this course.
Billy Horschel to win & each-way @ 18/1
Top-class American raiders are rare in DP World Tour events but Billy Horschel is a regular Wentworth competitor, winning the BMW PGA Championship in 2021 and finishing in the top 20 in his other three starts.
Horschel’s West Course form figures of 4-1-9-18 catch the eye and while his latest effort was his worst, that came at the end of a poor run of results and he’s in much better nick ahead of the 2024 edition.
The West Ham fanatic was a runner-up at the Open in July then he held his form well in the final four events of the PGA Tour season, perhaps running out of steam when 23rd of 30 at the Tour Championship.
Rikuya Hoshino to win & each-way @ 110/1
Those looking for each-way value could do worse than Rikuya Hoshino, the Qatar Masters champion who showed himself capable of handling this tree-lined test when 25th on debut last season.
Hoshino, a tidy sort who ranks 17th in strokes-gained tee-to-green on the DP World Tour, finished 10th at the KLM Open in June, sixth at the BMW International Open in July and eighth at fiddly Crans-sur-Sierre in the European Masters two weeks ago.
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