Who to back at the BMW PGA Championship
The BMW PGA Championship – the flagship event on the European Tour – is one tournament every European wants to add to their CV.
Down the years, we have seen the likes of Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer lift the trophy on the famous 18th green. But who is capable of giving us a run for our money this week?
BMW PGA Championship: Keel’s each-way tips
We’ll kick things off with Paul Dunne. To win this championship, it’s been essential in recent years that you must have experience playing the course well in previous years. The Irishman has only played once which came last year, and a 30th place finish followed, including a final round of 69.
That was a fine debut and I’d expect a significant improvement this year, especially with a win under his belt at last year’s British Masters.
The 25-year-old has been playing nicely of late as well. A 7th place last time out in China was promising, but look further into his season and you can see things have been rounding into shape. Two top-10s on the PGA Tour in March was followed up by a runner-up spot in Madrid at the Open de Espana, where only Jon Rahm got in his way. You can also add the win at GolfSixes, where both he and Gavin Moynihan were on fire as they played the best golf of the week by a distance.
At a best price of 40/1, he represents each-way value.
While this tournament usually brings a classy winner, you can’t get away from the fact that you’ll often get big outsiders lingering at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday. Byeong-Hun An and Simon Khan are prime examples of that in recent years.
That’s why we’ll pivot down to Jorge Campillo, who is more than capable of going close at 70/1.
The Spaniard is playing the golf of his life right now; he hasn’t missed a cut since January, and he’s finished inside the top-5 in five of the last seven starts. There was also a tie for 27th at the WGC-Mexico among much classier opposition.
He has form at Wentworth, as well. Six starts have yielded two missed cuts in his first two, but he’s made the cut in each of the last four, including a 15th two years ago.
There’s plenty of scope for improvement, though, and with the 31-year-old in such fine form of late, expect a career-best finish on the West Course this week.
Who is Keel’s top tip for glory at Wentworth? Article continues on the next page…
Tom Irwin
Tom is a lifetime golfer, now over 30 years playing the game. 2023 marks 10 years in golf publishing and he is still holding down a + handicap at Alwoodley in Leeds. He has played over 600 golf courses, and has been a member of at least four including his first love Louth, in Lincolnshire. Tom likes unbranded clothing, natural fibres, and pencil bags. Seacroft in Lincolnshire is where it starts and ends.
