DPWT - BMW PGA Championship 2023

[billyspan]

Thought this tournament deserved its own thread with a little bit of history.

 

The 69th playing (1955) of the the BMW (originally the British) PGA Championship.  First played at the Wentworth Club in 1972, this tournament has made the English club its permanent home since 1984.  While not a direct lineage, this stroke play tournament effectively replaced the original British PGA Matchplay Championship (1903-1979).  You guessed it sponsors preferred stroke play.  Originally a "Close" tournament for golfers from the UK-only established by the PGA (G.B. & Ireland), the event opened its doors to the world in 1967.  The tournament has been a European Tour Flagship/Rolex event since 1990.  Nick Faldo holds the record for most wins at 4.

 

While the club dates back to 1922, the tournament West Course dates back to 1926 and was designed by the famed, Harry Colt.  However, there have been significant changes does since 2005 by Ernie Els, including the "new" 18th hole pictured below.  Enjoy the "coffee golf"!

 

Defending Champion -

Shane Lowry

 

Notables in the Field -

Rory McIlroy

Jon Rahm

Viktor Hovland

Matt Fitzpatrick

Tyrrell Hatton

Tommy Fleetwood

Tom Kim

Sepp Straka

Justin Rose

Adam Scott

Tom Hoge

Billy Horschel

 

Course - 

Wentworth Club - West Course

Virginia Water, Surrey, England

Par 72

7,267 yards

 

 

[WorkItBothWays]

0840 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Viktor Hovland (Nor)
0850 Adam Scott (Aus), Tom Kim (Kor), Billy Horschel (USA)
0900 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Shane Lowry (Irl), Sepp Straka (Aut)
0930 Luke Donald (Eng), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Francesco Molinari (Ita)
1240 Jon Rahm (Esp), Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
1250 Justin Rose (Eng), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Robert MacIntyre (Sco)

[KennyP]

I think those groups give us a big clue for the Ryder Cup pairings.

 

McIlroy, Aberg, Hovland

 

Rahm, Hojgaard, Hatton

 

Fleetwood, Lowry, Straka

 

Rose, Fitzpatrick, McIntyre

 

Pods of three with potential foursome and four-ball partnerships in each.

[Dutch1008]

Kind of surprised more of the US Ryder Cup team isn't playing in this or the Fortinet. Max and JT playing Fortinet and Brooks has a LIV event coming up. The rest of the team is gathering rust since the Tour Championship while the entire European team is getting in competitive rounds this week. 

 

Probably not a big deal as I'm sure most of the team is banging balls at Medalist for the next couple of weeks, still interesting to see two completely different approaches to prep. The US prioritizing rest while the Euro compete.  

[billyspan]

Rory needs to finish strong to make the cut!

[elwhippy]

I hope Meronk wins and shows why Lowry is a bad pick. 

[ColinKelvin]

2 minutes ago, elwhippy said:

I hope Meronk wins and shows why Lowry is a bad pick. 

I like Meronk - but even if he does win, that wouldn't show that Lowry (currently -5 and 4 off the lead) is a bad pick in any way.

[Yuck]

“A” Game Rahm looks like he might be back……

[jdl]

6 minutes ago, Yuck said:

“A” Game Rahm looks like he might be back……

[jdl]

5 groups on the 18th hole!

[KennyP]

Aberg looking better and better. 

[Dutch1008]

52 minutes ago, elwhippy said:

I hope Meronk wins and shows why Lowry is a bad pick. 

Meronk was a deserving pick but I don't get this line of thinking. Lowry is in contention this week. He was T3 last week while Meronk was T23. I think people really overrate wins and underrate consistent play. Lowry's strokes gained ranking is 40th, Meronk is 65th. Meronk may have a few wins but Lowry has consistently been a better player and been teeing it up against better competition.  

 

I've said this before but Meronk's beef is w/ the qualifying criteria. He really should be on the team over MacIntyre. 

[ColinKelvin]

13 hours ago, Dutch1008 said:

Meronk was a deserving pick but I don't get this line of thinking. Lowry is in contention this week. He was T3 last week while Meronk was T23. I think people really overrate wins and underrate consistent play. Lowry's strokes gained ranking is 40th, Meronk is 65th. Meronk may have a few wins but Lowry has consistently been a better player and been teeing it up against better competition.  

 

I've said this before but Meronk's beef is w/ the qualifying criteria. He really should be on the team over MacIntyre. 

Except that everyone knew what the criteria were at the start of the qualifying period and I don't remember many complaints about 6 captain's picks, 3 world points and 3 Euro points - it was seen as reasonable.  MacIntyre was laser focused on making the team and his schedule was totally geared towards that - he set a goal and achieved it. He was also very unlucky not to win the Scottish Open when McIlroy finished birdie-birdie - if he had won it, he'd have been very comfortable in that third spot, with more prestige with a huge win.  Ifs and buts.

 

The guy who everyone thinks of as the 13th man will always have a beef with the qualifying criteria.

[Hankshank]

Were those waits on 17 and 18 tees something temporary yesterday? Or can we expect the same today?

 

Will there be helmets provided for the yearly suicide patrol on the left of the 17:th green? Hailstorm lovers...

 

Tidbit - its Åberg, not Aberg. Å=running water larger than a brook, smaller than a river. Pronouced kinda like the eaux in Bordeaux. 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Hankshank

[Pastit]

45 minutes ago, ColinKelvin said:

Except that everyone knew what the criteria were at the start of the qualifying period and I don't remember many complaints about 6 captain's picks, 3 world points and 3 Euro points - it was seen as reasonable.  MacIntyre was laser focused on making the team and his schedule was totally geared towards that - he set a goal and achieved it. He was also very unlucky not to win the Scottish Open when McIlroy finished birdie-birdie - if he had won it, he'd have been very comfortable in that third spot, with more prestige with a huge win.  Ifs and buts.

 

The guy who everyone thinks of as the 13th man will always have a beef with the qualifying criteria.

 
It’s simple: the DPWT had to have a device which excluded LIV players without their having to admit that fact. 

[mat562]

In a world where we have noise cancelling headphones, surely the sound guys at Sky can work with Samsung or Sony to develop gobby arsehole-cancelling microphones?

[WorkItBothWays]

10 hours ago, ColinKelvin said:

Except that everyone knew what the criteria were at the start of the qualifying period and I don't remember many complaints about 6 captain's picks, 3 world points and 3 Euro points - it was seen as reasonable.  MacIntyre was laser focused on making the team and his schedule was totally geared towards that - he set a goal and achieved it. He was also very unlucky not to win the Scottish Open when McIlroy finished birdie-birdie - if he had won it, he'd have been very comfortable in that third spot, with more prestige with a huge win.  Ifs and buts.

 

The guy who everyone thinks of as the 13th man will always have a beef with the qualifying criteria.

MacIntyre made the same mistake before the last RC and Harrington called him out on it. He tried to get his PGA Tour card and qualify for the RC at the same time. With the 10 PGA Tour cards for the RTD no need to do what he did last time.

[WorkItBothWays]

9 hours ago, Pastit said:

 
It’s simple: the DPWT had to have a device which excluded LIV players without their having to admit that fact. 

Not sure how this relates the the point being made but the LIV players threw the toys out the pram and chose to resign from the tour.

[Pastit]

25 minutes ago, WorkItBothWays said:

Not sure how this relates the the point being made but the LIV players threw the toys out the pram and chose to resign from the tour.

When the picks were set the position of the “ rebels “ gaining ranking points was unknown. If you recall, the first interlocutory hearing reinstated their eligibility to play until the full hearing.  
 

I’m not concerned here about the rights and wrongs of the LIV affair other than my point above. Thanks. 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Pastit

[billyspan]

Aberg looking $$$.  Fun tournament.

[billyspan]

11 hours ago, Pastit said:

 
It’s simple: the DPWT had to have a device which excluded LIV players without their having to admit that fact. 

Is it? Please explain.  Honestly, I am not very familiar with the process and when it was implemented.

[WorkItBothWays]

12 hours ago, Pastit said:

When the picks were set the position of the “ rebels “ gaining ranking points was unknown. If you recall, the first interlocutory hearing reinstated their eligibility to play until the full hearing.  
 

I’m not concerned here about the rights and wrongs of the LIV affair other than my point above. Thanks. 

Adrián Otaegui seems to disproves the point. He played multiple LIV events but complied with the DPWT disciplinary measures kept membership and was still in contention for the automatic DPWT ranking spot albeit an outside shot towards the end. Difficult yes but excluded no.

Edited September 17, 2023 by WorkItBothWays

[ColinKelvin]

1 minute ago, WorkItBothWays said:

Adrián Otaegui seems to disproves the point. He played multiple LIV events but compiled with the DPWT disciplinary measures kept membership and was still in contention for the automatic DPWT ranking spot albeit an outside shot towards the end. Difficult yes but excluded no.

This is spot on.  It is totally wrong to claim the qualification system (and particularly the European points places) was set up to sneakily exclude LIV players.  It was done to back their own tour - and say to players on it "here is your path to the Ryder Cup".  It also doesn't account for the possibility of Garcia or Stenson doing a Koepka and playing really well in the majors, accruing world points. 

[mat562]

Sad to see the universe once again singling out Jon Rahm for a day-long campaign of harrassment and being solely responsible for him making a number of mistakes.

[paulshack]

I've said it before and I laugh every time I see it... Fleetwood will never win lmao he just doesn't have the killer in him

[jimecherry]

10 minutes ago, paulshack said:

I've said it before and I laugh every time I see it... Fleetwood will never win lmao he just doesn't have the killer in him

he's won 6 times on that tour though

[grm24]

8 minutes ago, jimecherry said:

he's won 6 times on that tour though

Funny how that keeps being ignored.

[syders]

Just doesn’t seem to shoot well enough in the last day as he’s in contention a lot 

[nichho]

15 hours ago, syders said:

Just doesn’t seem to shoot well enough in the last day as he’s in contention a lot 

It would appear that Tommy has paid a visit to the Lee Westwood school of putting.

[elwhippy]

Brilliant final rounds from several players. Course was magnificent (a shame it has gone to members and guests) and strong showings from Luke Donald's team. Bring on Marco Simone.