Can Rory McIlroy bounce back from yet another agonising second place finish? His latest pain can in last week’s Irish Open and now he heads to the DP World Tour’s flagship event at its Wentworth headqaurters.
BMW PGA Championship odds
Rory McIlroy 6/1
Tommy Fleetwood 10/1
Shane Lowry 12/1
Adam Scott 14/1
Billy Horschel 18/1
Aaron Rai 18/1
Alex Noren 20/1
Byeong-Hun An 20/1
Robert MacIntyre 20/1
Si Woo Kim 25/1
Odds with bet365.
The BMW PGA Championship betting preview
Aside from the Open there is no bigger tournament in British golf than the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
The club’s West Course has hosted Europe’s greatest-ever golfers, from Severiano Ballesteros and Nick Faldo in the 1980s, through Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie in the 90s, to Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke in the 21st century.
The current top dog is, of course, Rory McIlroy and he arrives in Surrey with yet more questions being asked about the state of his game.
In June he finished an agonising second behind Bryson DeChambeau in the US Open and he repeated the pain when runner-up to Rasmus Hojgaard in last week’s Irish Open.
Can he rebound in style? He did so in January, when second to Tommy Fleetwood one week and the winner the next.
He’s also a former champion of this event – in 2014 – and he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in his last four visits.
Who are the best bets though? Let’s find out.
The BMW PGA Championship betting tips
Aaron Rai each way
The Englishman is very good between trees. Very, very good, in fact.
He’s won at Muthaiga, Hong Kong and Sedgefield, for example.
The middle of those victories has always been a good pointer for this week and the latter happened only last month.
The Wolverhampton-born Rai has also proved himself on the West Course.
He was 14th in 2021 and second last year.
He’s an established PGA Tour performer these days, good enough to have played the Tour Championship a few weeks ago, which is open only to the top 30 players for the season.
The Ryder Cup is in his cross hairs and a good result this week would set him on his way. SpreadEx are offering 19/1 each way and he’s the pick of the favourites.
Back the Scotsman at 19/1 with Spreadex
Victor Perez each way
The Frenchman wasted no time taking a liking to Wentworth when finishing second there on his debut in 2020.
And although his three efforts since have been stymied by one poor round every time he has still broken 70 in eight of his 13 laps of the course.
That in itself is promising but it’s also true that his best effort this year on the PGA Tour came at Hamilton GC in the Canadian Open which, like Wentworth, was designed by Harry Colt.
Perez was also fourth the last time he was in Europe at the Paris Olympics.
Back Victor Perez at 66/1 each way with bet365
Joost Luiten top 20
The Dutchman has finished top 30 in nine of his 20 starts in 2024 – and in 22 of his 44 starts this year and last.
At Wentworth he’s also recorded seven top 30s in 14 starts – and six in his last 10.
He also has a good record on Colt designs.
He was a winner and runner-up at Kennemer, has been sixth at Hilversum and his best Open finish was at Royal Portrush.
He’s the banker of the week with bet365 offering 17/10 that he lands another top 30.
Bet Juust Luiten to finish top 20 at 17/10 with bet365
How to watch the BMW PGA Championship
Venue – The West Course, Wentworth, England
Date – Thursday 19th September – Sunday 22nd September
Broadcast – Full coverage on Sky Sports Golf: Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday from 8.30am.
About the author
Matt Cooper
Matt Cooper has been a golf journalist for 15 years. He’s worked for, among others, Golf365, SkySports, ESPN, NBC, Sporting Life, Open.com and the Guardian. He specialises in feature writing, reporting and tournament analysis. He’s covered numerous Opens, Ryder Cups and Solheim Cups, and travelled to golfing destinations as varied as Kazakhstan, South Korea, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to talkSPORT. 18+. T&Cs apply. GambleAware.org
Remember to gamble responsibly
A responsible gambler is someone who:
Establishes time and monetary limits before playing
Only gambles with money they can afford to lose
Never chase their losses
Doesn’t gamble if they’re upset, angry or depressed
Gamcare – www.gamcare.org.uk
GambleAware – www.gambleaware.org
Find our detailed guide on responsible gambling practices here.
For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www.gamstop.co.uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites.
Most read in Betting
