There are special occasions every year which are a must-see, events which demand a red circle round the date in the diary and which perfectly encapsulate the magnificence of sport played at the highest level. In the world of golf, one of those weeks is the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club.
Everything about the Championship oozes class, from the superb golf played on the beautifully manicured fairways and greens of the West Course to the sumptuous hospitality units surrounding the 18th green and the ultimate spectator experience within the state-of-the art Tented Village.
A trip to this leafy corner of Surrey is always special but there is a particular resonance this time round, for 2008 represents the 25th year in a row that the tournament has been played at Wentworth Club. It dipped its toe in the water here for three years from 1972 to 1974 before returning in 1984 to begin one of the most enduring partnerships in world sport.
Fittingly, to celebrate such an anniversary, an impressive guest list has arrived to join the party, headed by World Number Three Ernie Els and World Number Nine Vijay Singh alongside Luke Donald, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood from the World’s Top 20.
Els and Singh will certainly start amongst the favourites, Els in particular thanks to his intimate knowledge of the course, having been asked by Wentworth Club to modernise Harry Colt’s original masterpiece, a task he has not only taken on with relish over the past three years but one he has also achieved in style.
However, a world class field has assembled, all hoping to claim the presitigious title, including five additional Major Champions to Els and Singh – Angel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen, Paul Lawrie and José Maria Olazábal – eight time European Tour Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie – and a total of 101 European Tour winners in all.
Included in the latter category are two men for whom the week will have extra special significance – England’s Paul Broadhurst and Anders Hansen of Denmark; the former as it will see him compete in his 500th European Tour event as a professional 20 years after making his debut in the 1988 Jersey Open, while the latter as it sees him return to the venue where he triumphed over Rose in a thrilling sudden-death play-off 12 months ago.
The Dane became the eighth member of a distinguished group of people who have won the BMW PGA Championship on more than one occasion; the unique nature of Hansen’s victory being the fact his only other European Tour victory to date was his inaugural success in the Championship in 2002.
“I think winning twice is a pretty fair achievement, especially when you look at the names I am alongside on the Roll of Honour – you get a sense of the importance of the BMW PGA Championship when you do that,” he said. “To win for a third time would be very special indeed.”
This will be the fourth year of BMW’s sponsorship of the Championship and to recognise that fact, alongside the 25th anniversary of the tournament at Wentworth Club itself, the 150-strong field will be competing for a record prize fund of €4,500,000, the biggest prize fund on The 2008 European Tour International Schedule outside the Major Championships and the individual World Golf Championships.
It represents a €150,000 increase on last year, and €500,000 in total since BMW’s first involvement in 2005, and sees the first prize on offer this week as €750,000, up €25,000 on the cheque pocketed by Hansen 12 months ago.
Obviously, that impressive figure means vital World Ranking points are at stake along with considerable strides to be made in both The European Tour Order of Merit and, for the European players in the field, in The Ryder Cup standings in a bid to make Nick Faldo’s Team bound for Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky in September.
Faldo holds the record number of title victories in the event with four, his last coming in 1989, but it was the next Englishman to lift the title – David Howell in 2006 – who perhaps best summed up, away from the issue of money and ranking points, just what victory here this week means.
“This is as big as it gets on The European Tour,” he said. “Outside the four Majors, this is the one to win.”
