Keith Pelley: "It gave everyone connected with this tournament the opportunity to come together, not only to express their condolences publicly to the Royal Family, but also to celebrate the life of a truly extraordinary monarch"
Sunday 11 September 2022 20:35, UK
Shane Lowry claimed a narrow victory at the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday as golf completed a weekend at Wentworth which celebrated the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The tournament was immediately suspended on Thursday evening after Buckingham Palace announced the news of The Queen's death, with Friday's play also cancelled before the DP World Tour event - reduced to 54 holes - resumed on Saturday morning at Wentworth.
A two-minute period of silence at 9.50am on Saturday was observed across the course, with staff, caddies and players joining DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley on the putting green in front of the first tee, while the proclamation of King Charles III was shown on screens in the Championship Village.
"This has been a very emotional week with the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, not just for everyone in the UK but across the entire Commonwealth," Pelley said during the trophy presentation to Lowry on Sunday.
"There was a lot of discussion on Friday about whether we should play the BMW PGA Championship this weekend, but we genuinely felt we should.
"It gave everyone connected with this tournament the opportunity to come together, not only to express their condolences publicly to the Royal Family, but also to celebrate the life of a truly extraordinary monarch."
Lowry also backed the decision to continue playing following his victory.
"It's been a sad week for everyone here in this country and around the world. What Queen Elizabeth II represented was amazing. She was an amazing woman and I was happy the golf went ahead because I felt like it should be a celebration of her life and I think that's what we had this weekend here at Wentworth and I think it was pretty special."
Sky Sports pundit Paul McGinley also felt it was the correct decision to continue with the tournament over the weekend.
He said: "It's one of those moments in time in all of our lives that we will never forget because of the circumstances of the week and The Queen passing.
"We will always remember this week and part of that memory will obviously be The Queen's passing but we will also remember that it was a tournament that went ahead when other sports were not played.
"I think as Shane said, it was the right decision and ultimately a lot of us will remember that Shane was the champion and joined that illustrious list of people that have won. It's a tournament and a venue that's synonymous with the history of golf."
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