Tournament: BMW PGA Championship
Rolex Series: Three of five Rolex Series events
Race to Dubai: Tournament 37 of 44
Venue: Wentworth Club, Surrey, England
Prize Fund: $9,000,000
Hashtag: #BMWPGA #RolexSeries #DPWT
To view player interview transcripts, please click here.
Tournament preview
Rory McIlroy has his sights set on a second BMW PGA Championship title when he tees it up at Wentworth Club this week.
The Northern Irishman won at the prestigious Surrey venue in 2014 and has since finished second twice, with two further top tens, and he arrives this week after coming close to an 18th DP World Tour victory at the Amgen Irish Open.
The four-time Major winner currently leads the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership with Rolex after earning his third Rolex Series title in Dubai in January, and has continued to strengthen his position at the summit with a runner-up finish in June’s U.S. Open and a tie for fourth at the second Rolex Series event of the year in Scotland.
McIlroy is joined in the field for the 70th edition of the BMW PGA Championship by European Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood, who is searching for his second victory of the season after his triumph at the Dubai Invitational.
The Englishman has enjoyed another strong year, which has also included a Silver Medal for Team GB at the Olympics Games in Paris last month.
The third Rolex Series event of the year boasts a strong field, with Fleetwood and McIlroy joined by fellow Ryder Cup stars including Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who won his national Open in July as well as his maiden PGA TOUR title at the RBC Canadian Open.
MacIntyre, who is targeting a second Ryder Cup appearance in New York next year, was joined at Wentworth by fellow Scot and recently retired tennis star Andy Murray in front of packed galleries at Wednesday’s ever-popular Celebrity Pro-Am.
Player quotes
Rory McIlroy: Here at Wentworth, the sun is shining and so many people out there on a Wednesday. There’s not many better places to be. So, excited to be here.
I’m glad for the opportunity to get back on the horse again. I think there may be a misconception that it hit me harder than it maybe did (missing out on the Amgen Irish Open title). You know, I didn’t really feel like I necessarily lost the tournament. I felt like Rasmus went out and won it. Shot 31 on the back nine.
Obviously just trying to look for the positives in all of it but yeah, happy to get here. My game is feeling like it’s in pretty good shape and I feel like I have another chance to win a really big tournament that means a lot to me.
It feels like quite a long time since I won at Quail Hollow back in May, and I’ve come close here a couple of times. I was second to Francesco in 2018; second to Shane in 2022.
My form at this tournament over the last few years has been very good. So yeah, it would be niece to just get another win on the board. It’s felt like awhile. And I’ve played some very good golf in that stretch, just not been able to get over the line.
Tommy Fleetwood: It’s beautiful. I played Monday morning. I always think the course is in great condition. It’s so English, which is great. The course is in perfect condition, really.
It’s one of the nice things, when you play somewhere, you have such a feel for the golf course, like you know how shots play and you know what’s happened in the past on these holes. And that’s one of the nice things about when you come to the same course time and time again.
There’s always new things that you learn, but you have experiences around there, and just getting a feel for how it plays is always nice.
I think we are lucky that we have a sport where everybody can play. I think it’s a lot of people’s favourite pastimes, and people find it very relaxing, I guess. Anything that we can do to all grow the game, and I think people that love the game, the celebrities, they can do a lot to attract the game to new people. It was massively busy and neat to see so many people watching.
Robert MacIntyre: It was brilliant. It was like a dream come true for me, (Andy is) a sporting idol of mine. Yeah, it was just a special, special day. If I achieve half of what he achieved in his sport, then I’ll have overachieved to be honest with you. The guy is a sporting idol of many, many Scottish people.
Now the goal is to get obviously back on the Ryder Cup team, and obviously try to win golf tournaments every week. That’s my job, and there’s so much that goes into winning them.
For me, it’s just give myself as many chances as I can, and last week was the same. I gave myself a chance. Sunday I wasn’t at the races, and that’s part of it.
It’s always great. It always the best event of the year we play, and look, when the weather is decent like this, there’s not many better places to be. But it’s just good to be back and playing and seeing familiar faces and being comfortable in the environment. Just looking forward to the week.
