The BMW PGA Championship has today announced the teams for Wednesday’s highly anticipated Celebrity Pro-Am competition taking place at Wentworth Club, Surrey, on May 22.
A stellar cast of more than 50 celebrities will tee off alongside the stars of Europe’s magnificent ‘Miracle at Medinah’ Ryder Cup Team. The field of 45 teams include sportsmen, actors, models and presenters from the worlds of TV and radio.
Wentworth Club’s famous West Course will be the setting, once again, for this prestigious event, now firmly established as the official curtain raiser to the BMW PGA Championship.
World number two Rory McIlroy lines-up alongside England captains of the past and present, Andrew Strauss and Chris Robshaw; Colin Montgomerie will be going into battle alongside knights of the realm, Sirs Redgrave, Pinsent and Woodward; while Graeme McDowell and Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Chris Evans will lead the way in the afternoon’s four-balls, against the likes of team-mates Ian Poulter, Sir Ian Botham and Jamie Redknapp.
The full line-up of Professional / Celebrity Teams is as follows.
Morning shotgun start, teeing off at 08:00hrs:
| Morning shotgun start, teeing off at 08:00hrs: | |
| Professional | Celebrity/Amateur |
| Rory McIlroy | Chris Robshaw and Andrew Strauss |
| Sergio Garcia | Bruno Spengler, Derek Warwick and Tim Harvey |
| Paul Lawrie | AP McCoy, Carl Llewellyn and Mick Fitzgerald |
| Gonzalo F’dez-Castano | Sir Bruce Forsyth, Jeremy Kyle and Anton du Beke |
| Alex Noren | Alex Thompson |
| Robert Karlsson | Alan Hansen and Tim Henman |
| Paul McGinley | Jay Tabb, Steve Rider and Dan Walker |
| Scott Jamieson | Jeremy Guscott and Darren Gough |
| Paul Casey | Will Greenwood, Matt Dawson and Keith Wood |
| Thomas Bjorn | Boris Becker and Matt Le Tissier |
| Justin Rose | Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and John Arne Riise |
| Colin Montgomerie | Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent and Sir Clive Woodward |
| Afternoon shotgun start, teeing off at 13:00hrs: | |
| Professional | Celebrity/Amateur |
| Ian Poulter | Sir Ian Botham and Jamie Redknapp |
| Francesco Molinari | Daniele Massaro, Gianfranco Zola and Andriy Shevchenko |
| David Howell | Ian Wright, Ady Williams and Glenn Little |
| Marcel Siem | Philip Glenister |
| Raphael Jacquelin | Jason Atherton, Rob Bonnett and Tiff Needell |
| Alvaro Quiros | Jodie Kidd, Naga Munchetty and Di Dougherty |
| Lee Westwood | Glenn Hoddle, Greg Rusedski and Vassos Alexander |
| Graeme McDowell | Chris Evans |
The first group of teams will get underway at 08:00hrs on Wednesday morning, with a shotgun start around the West Course. The afternoon session will commence at 13:00hrs.
This year’s Celebrity Pro-Am will also see the introduction of a fun new rule: “Use Your Pro”. This new feature gives amateur players the opportunity to call on their professional team-mate to play them out of trouble. At least that is the theory! Each amateur is entitled to “Use Your Pro” once in the round and can call on their ‘Pro’ whenever they want; whether it be in an emergency, as the result of a wayward shot, or tactically, to get it up on the green on some of the longer, trickier Par Threes.
Jamie Birkmyre, Championship Director for the BMW PGA Championship, said: “We have a record number of celebrities confirmed for Wednesday’s Celebrity Pro-Am and we are delighted that so many stars from the worlds of sport and television will be competing alongside some of the world’s best golfers. It’s a great day; not just for the players and the celebrities, but also for the thousands of spectators who come along to watch them play in a relaxed, informal environment.”
Tickets for all six days of the BMW PGA Championship, running from 21 – 26 May, are available to purchase on the gate. Children aged 16 and under will be admitted free of charge if accompanied by an adult ticket holder.
BMW Owners and Official Badge Holders will be able to park on site as in previous years, while pre-paid parking on Wentworth Estate is now completely sold out. All other ticket holders – and spectators turning up on the day to purchase tickets on the gate – will be directed to the most appropriate Park and Ride location.
The new Park and Ride system will operate from two locations – one near Sunningdale, carrying traffic from the West (M3 and M4) and one at the Review Ground, Windsor Great Park, which is East of the tournament venue close to the M25. Both parks will operate a free shuttle bus service to Wentworth Club every five minutes, with the journey time taking around ten minutes. Spectators will be dropped off at the new Welcome Tent adjacent to the 18th fairway of the East Course, giving access to the superb BMW PGA Championship Tented Village and incorporating a dedicated ticket collection point and a raft of other valuable spectator information on arrival. Park and Ride will operate from Wednesday to Sunday with free on-site parking for all spectators on Tuesday.
