Ahead of The European Tour’s flagship event – the 2014 BMW PGA Championship – europeantour.com's Will Pearson goes inside long-time host venue Wentworth Club with the help of two-time champion Luke Donald.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the PGA Championship, launched back in 1955 at Pannal Golf Club in Harrogate, which has made its permanent home at the world-renowned Wentworth Club in Surrey since 1984.
Located less than an hour from central London, Wentworth has long retained a reputation as one of the world’s foremost golf and country clubs with its castellated, ivy-clad cream clubhouse and lush green fairways lined by native woodland of pine, oak and birch.
Legendary golf architect Harry Colt sculpted a masterpiece when he forged the West Course on a glorious patch of Surrey heathland in the early 1920s, a layout which has in the last few years been modified by former Wentworth resident Ernie Els.
Playing this week at 7,302 yards to a par of 72, there is a sense of history and pedigree entwined throughout the weaving, undulating course, having hosted The Ryder Cup in 1953 and also the World Match Play Championship between 1964 and 2007.
The West at Wentworth will again this week be hosting some of the world’s finest golfers for the 33rd time in BMW PGA Championship history, not least former World Number One Donald, who triumphed here in back-to-back years from 2011 and has a well-documented affinity with the venue.
Overview
“Obviously it has been changed a lot over the years,” says Donald, who as well as winning twice in his last three visits has also finished inside the top ten on a further three occasions at the BMW PGA Championship since 2007.
“I think when they re-did the greens a few years ago that improved them and made them into lovely surfaces which obviously helped me as a good putter.
“The course is very much a positional one. Even though it is quite long off the back tees there are a lot of holes which you can’t take driver off the tee so it’s a case of threading it between the fairway bunkers.
“And then you need a lot of precision into the greens because a lot of them are protected by these now-deep bunkers and are quite sectioned off so it is certainly a shot-maker’s course.”
The Wentworth Wind
Swirling, gusting, changeable; helping, hindering, harassing. Wentworth is known for its temperamental winds, streaming almost endlessly in, out and around the numerous trees which line the course. This week, as always, the wind will play its own role in providing one of the distinctive tests to the flagship field.
The Key Holes
A Tough Opening Trio
“It’s a strong start over the first three holes,” he reflects. “If you can come away from those at even par then you’re doing pretty well. One and three are obviously very strong par fours – three being notoriously one of the toughest holes we play all week. It’s uphill, plays long and then has a very tricky green to get close to the pin on.”
The 12th
Played as a par four on occasions over the years, the 531-yard, downhill hole is now a par five and one of the most recognisable on the West.
“12 is one of the iconic holes at Wentworth,” says Donald. “You drive over the trees from the tee and try to get it between the ditches. If you manage to do that that and find the fairway, then you leave yourself with a decent chance at birdie or better.”
A Big Finish
There can’t be many, if any, other top-class championship courses to finish with consecutive par fives – a big finish which often plays its hand in deciding the fate of the BMW PGA Championship.
The Changes
Feeling they needed to bring the challenge of the old West into the 21st century, Wentworth Club turned in 2005 to long-time resident Ernie Els who, like Luke Donald, had had some great success at the venue in the past.
The changes Els affected – including the addition of the famous water hazard framing the 18th green – unsurprisingly have found a big fan in Donald.
He says: “From a purely selfish stand-point, having won here twice on the ‘New West’, I guess they seem to favour me. I prefer it since the changes if I’m honest, it seems to really suit my style of play.”
