Andy DevaneyJJ Spaun produced a superb late charge at Wentworth to win the 2026 BMW PGA Championship, adding a first Rolex Series title to the U.S. Open crown he claimed little more than a year ago.
Spaun arrived at Wentworth for his first BMW PGA Championship appearance and left with the trophy.
There are worse introductions.
The American seized control of a championship that had spent much of Sunday threatening to belong to somebody else, stringing together three consecutive birdies from the 14th before holding his nerve as Manuel Elvira’s challenge unravelled down the 18th.
His first DP World Tour victory came in rather substantial circumstances at the U.S. Open one year and 97 days earlier.
His second is the BMW PGA Championship.
Not a bad pair with which to start a collection.
Spaun makes his move as Wentworth tightens
For much of the afternoon, Manuel Elvira appeared to have his hands around the championship.
The Spaniard had moved to 16 under and held the outright lead, but the chasing pack refused to disappear.
Spaun finally broke through at the par-three 14th, making birdie to climb to 14 under and move within two of Elvira.
Then everything changed rather quickly.
Spaun rolled in another birdie at the par-four 15th, while Elvira three-putted the 14th and surrendered his advantage. Suddenly the American was level at the top.
At the 16th, Spaun struck again.
A third consecutive birdie took him to 16 under and gave him the outright lead with the two closing par fives still ahead.
Three holes. Three birdies. A championship turned on its head.
Elvira takes it all the way to the 18th
Elvira refused to disappear.
After the costly three-putt at the 14th, he steadied himself and remained firmly in the fight, eventually arriving at Wentworth’s final hole with the championship still within reach.
A birdie would be enough to snatch victory.
His drive found the first cut down the left, avoiding the trees and fairway bunkers and leaving him with a route towards the green.
But the final hole quickly became far more complicated.
Elvira elected to lay up with his second and found the fairway bunker, leaving himself a delicate third from the sand with the title suddenly looking much further away.
He then flew his approach long and over the back of the green, his ball finishing close to the cameras and grandstand as brother Nacho watched from behind the putting surface.
What had started as an opportunity to win outright had become a fight simply to stay alive.
The pressure Spaun had created with that run of three birdies was suddenly being felt everywhere.
McIlroy and Scott refused to go quietly
Spaun’s surge hardly removed the pressure elsewhere.
Rory McIlroy mounted his own charge and birdied the 17th to reach 15 under before heading to Wentworth’s final hole.
His tee shot found a fairway bunker, forcing him to lay up, but his third finished within a foot of the cup after a superb pitch into the 18th.
Adam Scott was also very much involved.
The Australian narrowly missed an eagle attempt at the last before tapping in for birdie to post 15 under following a final-round 69.
For a while, Wentworth’s closing stretch resembled less a leaderboard than a queue.
Spaun, Elvira, McIlroy and Scott all had a say.
But Spaun had supplied the decisive burst.
At precisely the point when the championship threatened to become anybody’s tournament, the American made it his.
The L.A.B. putter delivers when it matters
Spaun’s trusty L.A.B. putter did not let him down when the pressure tightened either.
His late charge was built on taking the chances that appeared, and the putter was central to the decisive run.
Three straight birdies from the 14th transformed him from pursuer into leader, with the birdie putts at 15 and 16 arriving just as the championship was beginning to resemble a traffic jam.
There are weeks when a player needs something familiar in the hands while everything else starts moving quickly around him.
For Spaun, the L.A.B. putter remained reliable when Wentworth demanded its best work.
The trophy will take the attention, naturally enough, but the club he trusted on the greens played its part in getting him there.
A second DP World Tour title — and quite a pair of them
The BMW PGA Championship becomes Spaun’s second DP World Tour victory and his first outside a Major.
His first came at the U.S. Open one year and 97 days earlier.
The Wentworth victory also gives him his first Rolex Series title and, naturally enough, a perfect record at the BMW PGA Championship: one appearance, one victory.
That is a rather efficient way of getting acquainted with the place.
Spaun could also climb from 17th to as high as 13th in the Official World Golf Ranking following his victory.
Spaun becomes the fourth American BMW PGA champion
The victory places Spaun in a relatively short line of American winners at Wentworth.
“JJ Spaun: “It means so much. You know, I’ve kind of blossomed into this player I never thought I could be, and to take my game across the world, and more specifically here in England, a place that’s dear to my family’s heart, we vacation here quite a bit.
The stars kind of aligned this week for me to come out on top, and I’m just grateful to have the opportunity and play and play well and give myself a chance and came out with a W.
I think when I hit it really tight on 14, the par 3, I missed a short one on 13. I didn’t birdie 12. And last I saw of the leaderboard was that Aaron was at 16 with still a couple to play. Just started free-wheeling it and hit it as close as I can. I made some really nice putts on 15 and 16, as well. Had a close one on 17. Just didn’t make the putt.
18 has been good to me all week, even in the practice round. Had a good feeling going into that hole, and took 4 there and took my chances.
I knew the whole day I had to stay patient because of the closing stretch at Wentworth because you could go eagle, eagle and you could also go bogey, bogey.
I just kept telling myself to stay patient, be as close as you can without forcing too many errors early on, after bogeying the first hole, I kind of rebounded with a couple nice birdies. The back nine has been good to me. I played better on the back nine. I knew once I could get through the front I could make up some ground.”
He becomes the fourth player from the United States to win the BMW PGA Championship and the first since Billy Horschel in 2024.
Spaun’s success is also the sixth victory by an American during the 2026 Race to Dubai.
Patrick Reed has won both the Hero Dubai Desert Classic and Qatar Masters, Jordan Gumberg claimed the Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO, Wyndham Clark took the U.S. Open and Steven Fisk won the ISCO Championship.
Spaun now adds the BMW PGA Championship to that American collection.
His victory is also the 284th DP World Tour title won by a player from the United States.
Another enormous title for Spaun
There is an appealingly uncomplicated theme developing around Spaun’s DP World Tour victories.
He does not appear particularly interested in collecting minor ones.
A U.S. Open was his first.
A BMW PGA Championship and Rolex Series title is now his second.
This one was won during the stretch when Wentworth became most uncomfortable.
Elvira had led. McIlroy was coming. Scott was hanging around. The closing par fives were offering possibilities to everybody.
Spaun responded with birdie, birdie, birdie.
And when Elvira arrived at the 18th still capable of taking the trophy from him, the Spaniard found sand with his second and went long with his third.
Spaun had applied the pressure.
Everybody else had to answer it.
For a player making his BMW PGA Championship debut, he learned his way around Wentworth remarkably quickly.
By Sunday evening, he owned the trophy.
