European Tour - BMW PGA Championship

It's Wentworth time again! And thank goodness the weather is great this week, for a change... According to the course keepers it's been probably the most challenging buildup they ever had for this event, with one of the warmest March on record, followed by the wettest April on record and followed by a very cold and wet first half of May. Not exactly what Els&Co. would've hoped for, as they'll be trying desperately to make some of that loud criticism of the course changes heard over the last couple of years a thing of the past... All eyes will be once again on those approach shots to the 18th (especially Lee's), but according to Ernie that particular problem has been resolved by some simple changes to the fringe rough and that should make it less likely for the ball to spin back into the water. And talking of rough and Westwood, I haven't seen it myself, but I read reports that Westy has been growing some rough of his own lately, sporting now apparently a beard , hopefully that'll bring him more luck this year if he decides to keep it. Lee has been much more diplomatic this year in his statements about the course changes and what happened last year in that play-off, but he couldn't stop saying that the greens are some of the slowest he's seen all year...

The Lee-Luke battle for #1 stole the show last year and that should be again a talking point this year as Luke will once again be trying to capture the #1 spot, only this time from McIlroy. Coetzee and the former surprise winner from two years ago, Simon Khan, are having a good start this morning. It's always disappointing to see top European Tour players like Garcia and Oosthuisen missing from the starting line up of the tour's flagship event, but there is undoubtedly plenty of strength and depth in there to make us hope for another enthralling Wentworth week!

Hi Pd,

Was very disappointed to see Sergio and Louis missing. If I'm George O'Grady I'm giving them a phone call.

Laird off to a poor start. Him and Lawrie distracted by RC talk again?

Not surprised to hear the greens are slow. Like you say its been just too cold!

Morning scoreboard was a bit weird it gave David Patrick a hole on one at the 11th?

Bad start for Paddy

Imagine the stick Ernie would get if he won eh?

Looks like Rory may be making Luke's job of getting back to #1 easier this week. No beard for Westy and a bit of a shaky start so far... Ernie up to 5-under... That's true Lairdy, he may well get some stick if he wins, although he'll be arguing that he's been in good form lately. But then if other notables will be seen struggling...

Harrington can hardly make an excuse that he's been spending too much time on twitter since he launched his account... Only three 'messages' so far in there, primarily marketing stuff... plus one that says:

Heading across to England on Monday for the BMW PGA Championship, looking forward to it.... stay tuned!

Yeah, we are tuned Padraig...

Lairdy wrote:Hi Pd,

Was very disappointed to see Sergio and Louis missing. If I'm George O'Grady I'm giving them a phone call.

Laird off to a poor start. Him and Lawrie distracted by RC talk again?

Not surprised to hear the greens are slow. Like you say its been just too cold!

Garcia has been a great supporter of a few smaller events in Spain and seeing as he plays most of his schedule in the US, what do you expect??

Louis??

The last time i checked no events were "compulsory".............

Garcia has previously stated that the UK tax rules deter him from playing here [a subject which has previously been discussed on here - I think it's the endorsement income point].

Don't know what Louis was thinking. The one and only time I've seen him in the flesh is last year's BMW PGA. He wasn't playing well though; maybe he simply doesn't like the course.

Garcia plays the Opens though??

Why don't I like Marc Warren?? Always wish he finds trouble on a hole.

Rory not shooting red numbers, surprising as it's ideal conditions.

Laird & Lawrie probably will need to look to 2014 for a Ryder Cup place now I feel.

Good start from Rock, a win this week would be huge for him in the rankings.

A win for Rocky could mean a top 30 prospect for him... Wiesberger just dropping a shot, but good to see him following up on his Korean win with a very solid round today. Also good to see signs of life again from guys like Edfors, Dodt, Ferrie and Levet...

John Cregan wrote:Garcia plays the Opens though??

He does, but that's because it's The Open. As discussed before, we believe the problem is that the financial cost to these international sportspersons (re: UK tax on endorsement income) is largely determined by the ratio of time spent/tournaments played in the UK over a given year. It should be a fairly small percentage if they only play in the UK once a year.

Ro-cky, Ro-cky, Ro-cky...

Luuuuke!
Some start there for Peter Lawrie!

...or I should've said, what a great start for P. Lawrie, 7-under after 23 holes!
St. Peter&Paul certainly enjoying the Wentworth sunshine today...

Bang-bang-bang! 3xbirdie sequence for Cabrerra Bello, he's having a great year so far...

EmmDee57 wrote:Why don't I like Marc Warren?? Always wish he finds trouble on a hole.

Rory not shooting red numbers, surprising as it's ideal conditions.

Laird & Lawrie probably will need to look to 2014 for a Ryder Cup place now I feel.

Good start from Rock, a win this week would be huge for him in the rankings.

Not sure about that for Lawrie Emms. He is currently in a qualifying position good finish here and he'll be right in the mix.

Was Warren the guy who fell out with Torrance (coach) after a good start to his pro career. Seem to remember a quote from Bob that he was more interestd in fast cars than working on his game? Might give some context to his quote today thanking Cowen, a dig at Bob perhaps??

Good to see so many Scots competing.
A couple of years ago we were lucky to get two or three players in this type of event, 13 playing today.

John, agreed no individual events compulsory but cant see why it wouldnt be disappointing, for at least the ET chief, that these two stars are missing from the 'ET Players equivalent'.

EmmDee57 wrote:Rory not shooting red numbers, surprising as it's ideal conditions.

Agreed... little bother the MC at the PLAYERS, as that course negates a lot of Rory's advantages. But his slow starts at Wentworth are a bit of a puzzle. Not saying he can't or won't factor by the weekend, but he's making it pretty tough on himself spotting a field of this quality 6 or more shots....

Are conditions easier this afternoon than this morning?

Donald and Rose are steaming through the front nine.

Love seeing everyone playing the course as it was intended, all off the first tee.

Wonder how much le tennis is a distraction for Rory? Whatever happens this week, I really like his chances next week at Memorial, so long as he can keep his mind on his job.

I'm off to Wentworth tomorrow as a guest of Titleist. Never been there before so any advice as to best viewing points would be much appreciated.

Alternatively, I might just stay in the Championship Pavilion and drink or sit in the 18th grandstand.

Same question as above (how strange) haha.

Anyway i have never been to watch golf, is there a little shop where you can buy things? Wanted to get an autograph book

Five Scots in the top sixteen, can't last!

Roger Chapman leading in US Seniors, I always thought that he would make a good senior.

Good Solid start from Big Darren -2 after 12

Awaiting the posters curse to follow!!

He bogeyed the next hole

jimbohammers wrote:He bogeyed the next hole

Is that all? I was expecting a treble!!

Had wondered what happened to Warren. He and Monty won the 07 World Cup and he was talked about in great terms but since then its all been very quiet.

I think Warren fell into the trap of thinking he was better than he really was.

He always seems to pull a round out of the mire to keep his card so there seems to be lots of talent available but I think it is the application that is missing.

Noticed Scott Jamieson birdied the last four for his 68. Tends to be feast and famine for him, he must be interesting to follow.

Donaldson got one of the luckiest strangest bounces of the year.

Ball flies into creek fronting the green and ball bounces, backwards onto dry ground.

Do you call that water in front of the green a "burn" or is it a creek?

Is there any difference between a burn and a creek?

Perhaps this is being discussed on another thread, but back luck for McDowell ...

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/05/24/sports/golf/24reuters-golf-european-mcdowell.html?ref=golf

Memo to McDowell:
If in doubt, call the Referee.

Happy to see Richard Johnson in with a fine, five under round. Strongly recommend his Twitter account; some insight on his golfing life and his expat Swedish mates.

great days play

love this event and will be there sunday

go rose and rock

Surely if mcdowell had called a referee he'd have been assessed a penalty anyway what difference does it make?

Slowride,
He was quoted as saying, "I probably should have called for a referee - that would have saved me one shot. I was aware of it and asked to be looked at."

gbp
Burn in Scotland
Creek in USA
Crazy water hazzard in England.

most 'crazy water hazards' in england are dry as a bone and never have any water in them any way

Slowride wrote:Surely if mcdowell had called a referee he'd have been assessed a penalty anyway what difference does it make?

Ref would have made him replace ball after it moved.............and thus he would only have incurred 1 shot pen for moving it as he approached it....

Extra shot was for playing from wrong place(as ball was not replaced).....................

I see McIlroy today is subject to a possible 10k fine for being more like Woods than he admits. Now we know Woods does the whole let go of the club on follow through thing; well Rory went a stage further by actually throwing his clubsl like a petulant child.

Seen Rory doing that live on the course before where it probably wasnt picked up by tv. Saying that there is a lot goes on off the cameras. Rory is one of the 'unfortunate' well televised players.

Wonder if the slow greens, as noted by Westwood, are favouring the Scottish players? I'd imagine they'd be in tune with slow greens at this time of year, more than the majority.

Is there a decent app for the European Tour?

There is an official ET app but its slower than hell.

Good to see the two relative minoes leading after Rd1 having a solid start today, but they've just been passed by James Morisson. However there are four heavy-weights lurking right behind them. And to be honest, it's hard to look beyond that powerful trio of Molinari, Rose and Donald at the moment... Long way still though... Cut line at 1-under at the moment and it may well stay there if there are no sudden changes in circumstances...

Braden Grace for The Open. Thought I'd get that written down somewhere.

If Grace manges to get another win this week, that'll go a long way in convincing most people that he's the real deal... He could jump inside top 30 in the ranks, and that would be quite something for a 5-month spell...

Nice eagle for Luuuuke, and suddenly he's T2!!
Those bottles of Rioja are doing wonders... The Mechanic once again with a very good performance, former winner here, of course...

James James Morrison Morrison sounds more like a nursery rhyme character than a golfer.
But nothing child-like about going -12 over his last 22 holes.
Casey needs some of that or it'll be another wasted week for him.

Kwini puts the mockers on Rock.Dreadful start plus4 for 3

Thanks dyna,
What did I say??!!

'Good start from Rock , a win would be huge for him in the rankings.'
Or something along those lines.
While Im on I played 4 rounds over last weekend and ended up with severe pain in the base of the feet- like every step.Not the heels or toes but bottom of both feet .Anyone had a similar thing.Just about eased of now with some ice pack but unpleasant to say the least.

Dyna,
Not guilty. True sentiment, but expressed by someone else!

Seriously though: Have you lost any skin on your feet? Nothing diabetic-related?? Sounds nasty, I'd have a medical opinion.