Andy DevaneyA stacked field, 120,000 spectators and a programme stretching from Ryder Cup names to rock gigs: Wentworth is once again built for more than the leaderboard.
For all the concerts, celebrity tee times and polished machinery surrounding it, the strongest reason to pay attention to the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth remains reassuringly simple: the field is excellent.
Some 120,000 spectators are expected at Wentworth Club for the DP World Tour’s flagship event, and there is no shortage of players capable of giving the home crowd something to get involved with.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and defending champion Alex Noren are among a line-up with considerably more substance than the accompanying Festival of Golf actually needs.
That matters. Wentworth has become particularly good at making tournament week feel like an event, but the golf still has to justify the scale of everything built around it. This year, it does.
A field Wentworth can build a week around
The British challenge has depth as well as familiarity.
Reigning PGA Championship winner Aaron Rai joins Major winners Fitzpatrick and Rose, while former BMW PGA champions Danny Willett, Tyrrell Hatton and Luke Donald return to a venue where they already know how to win. Fleetwood, one of the crowd favourites, is also in the field.
Then comes the international contingent.
McIlroy won at Wentworth in 2014, Shane Lowry followed in 2022 and Ryan Fox took the title in 2023. Noren arrives as defending champion after claiming his second BMW PGA Championship last year, adding to his 2017 victory.
Rahm adds another former world number one to the draw, while Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, Ludvig Åberg and Sepp Straka bring further European Ryder Cup pedigree. Major winners J.J. Spaun, Koepka and Patrick Reed strengthen the American presence.
For a tournament carrying flagship status, it is the sort of field that makes the description feel earned.
The Celebrity Pro-Am gets first crack at the crowd
Before the tournament proper takes over, Wednesday’s Celebrity Pro-Am supplies Wentworth with its familiar change of pace.
Football provides several of the headline names this year. Gareth Bale, Robbie Fowler, John Terry and Eden Hazard are among those expected to take part, continuing the event’s habit of mixing professional golf with recognisable faces from elsewhere in sport and entertainment.
It is lighter than what follows, obviously, but that is rather the point. Wentworth’s week has long been designed to build before the serious scoring begins, rather than simply opening the gates and waiting for Sunday.
The 14th has a new hole-in-one twist
There is also a change waiting at Wentworth’s par-three 14th, traditionally one of the tournament’s livelier vantage points.
BMW’s hole-in-one prize returns, but the professionals now have some homework to do before reaching the tee. Each player can select a preferred car from ten BMW models ahead of the tournament.
The first professional to make an ace at the 14th can then take that chosen model or opt instead for the new all-electric BMW iX5.
It adds a small strategic wrinkle to what is otherwise the purest lottery in tournament golf: first, decide what you would like to drive home. Then try to hole the tee shot.
Wentworth’s Festival of Golf extends beyond the ropes
The Championship Village continues the broader event treatment.
BMW, MINI and Motorrad vehicles will be on display, including the new all-electric BMW i3, described as the second model of the Neue Klasse, alongside the new all-electric BMW i7 and BMW iX5.
There is golf involved here too. A Trackman simulation gives visitors a shot at Wentworth’s 18th hole through the BRING YOUR M GAME challenge, split into Power for the tee shot, Precision for the approach and Performance for the final putt.
Participants receive a personalised BMW M bag tag, while the day’s best player wins a BMW Driving Experience.
Once play finishes, the clubs are replaced by considerably louder equipment. DJ Tony Perry performs on Friday, The Kooks take over on Saturday and Ella Eyre closes the championship on Sunday evening.
None of that is necessary to make a strong golf tournament. That is precisely why the quality of this year’s field matters.
Wentworth can offer the Pro-Am, the cars, the simulator and the gigs, but a flagship event ultimately lives or dies by the names on the leaderboard.
With McIlroy, Rahm, Fleetwood, Noren and a lengthy collection of Major winners and Ryder Cup players heading to Surrey, the spectacle should have plenty of competition from the golf itself.
