PGA Championship
BMW PGA Championship preview: Rahm ready to roll
The biggest event of the whole DP World Tour Season takes place this week with the iconic West Course at Wentworth playing host to the BMW PGA Championship. A tournament of its stature requires a field to match and with both Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm in the field, the stars are out in force.
Throw in some of the players from the controversial LIV Golf Tour and we’ve got the recipe for fireworks. Here’s our preview.
Rahm more than due
It’s impossible to ignore the claims of Rory McIlroy this week and quotes of 11/2 are more than fair. He comes into this after a brilliant victory at the Tour Championship which won him the FedEx Cup for a record third time and he’s clearly oozing with confidence.
He won this in 2014 and finished runner-up four years later, while he tied for ninth on his most recent appearance despite an opening 76, so it’s a course he likes, and you don’t need us to tell you that’s he’s by far the most likely winner.
However, he can be left to win at that price and at a bigger 15/2 Jon Rahm is preferred.
While no missed cuts in 2022, 10 top 10s and one win is, on the fact of it, not a bad return, the Spaniard will be the first to admit that he hasn’t been at his best this year. The putter has been the main issue, but bar a win against a weak field in Mexico, for whatever reason he just hasn’t been able to put it all together at the right time.
However, there have been signs over the past month or so that he might have finally turned the corner. He finished in a tie for fifth at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, a tie for eighth at the BMW Championship and a tie for 15th last time out at the Tour Championship. That tie for 15th only tells half the story as he was bang in contention after a brilliant 63 on Friday but as the leaders got further ahead, it was evident Rahm’s attention wasn’t at its optimum and his game, notably the driver, suffered.
He heads to Wentworth for just his second appearance at this tournament, but he won’t have to do much more to win it this time around having finished second back in 2019 to Danny Willett. Perhaps what is most interesting though is that arrives at the Surrey course in virtually the same form as that year. His form figures prior to that solo second were T3, T5, T13, so like this year he’d been playing well without quite getting across the line. He won twice subsequently then and there’s plenty to suggest he can follow suit in 2022.
Great Scott
The other player to keep an eye on is Adam Scott at 28/1.
The Australian put together back-to-back tie for fifths in the first two FedEx Cup Playoff events before understandably running out of puff at the Tour Championship. He returns to Wentworth after a solid tie for 14th last year – his first outing at the course since 2006 – and can be expected to build on that 12 months later.
