BMW PGA Championship: Why Wentworth event had a major feel to it

Nick Dougherty

Golf Expert

Tuesday 24 September 2019 11:06, UK

Nick Dougherty reviews another memorable week at the BMW PGA Championship and looks ahead to an exciting finish on the European Tour season.

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For me, this tournament has always had a major feel to it. The European Tour have created the eight premier Rolex Series events, but this one always stands out as the most prestigious.

The players still view this as the flagship event of the Tour, and it's always been viewed that way ever since I've been involved with it, either as a young spectator, a player, or a broadcaster. And they always deliver. Every year they put on a great show for the fans, and the crowds are fantastic all the time, no matter what the weather.

The change of dates has been massive, and having the whole summer to prepare the course has resulted in the West Course being in better condition than I've seen it before for the BMW PGA Championship.

I don't think anyone in the field has had a bad word to say about the course, which I think is mesmerising now after a number of tweaks, and the rich history of this tournament is certain to continue for many years to come.

I was delighted to hear Justin Rose describe this as a "bucket list" event. When someone of his stature says that, you stand up and take notice, because Justin has won just about everything else!

That tells you all you need to know about the championship. It's our equivalent of The Players Championship on the PGA Tour, and in recent years there have been very few multiple winners here.

Since Monty won three in a row at the turn of the century, only Luke Donald has won twice at Wentworth, and that trend could continue just purely because of the wealth and depth of talent in the game at the moment.

There seems to be a lengthy list of genuine contenders before the start of every tournament now, and especially here when you have such a vast array of quality in the field. At the start of this week, I could have picked out 25 or even 30 guys who I would not be surprised to win.

That's great for golf, in my view. Look, we all used to love the days when Tiger turned up and looked unbeatable more often than not, but the days of being able to confidently predict a standout winner are long behind us.

It's also been great to see some prominent American players here this week in the form of Tony Finau, Patrick Reed and Billy Horschel, and they will head back to the PGA Tour and tell their peers that this is indeed a big tournament.

Whether that will attract a few more start names next year, and beyond, remains to be seen, but the feedback will undoubtedly be all positive. Tony, Patrick and Billy will have felt the good vibes this week, and let's hope they'll be back for more.

With the new date in the schedule clashing with lesser events on the PGA Tour, there's really no reason why you shouldn't be at Wentworth to see what the best of the European Tour has to offer.