European Tour: BMW PGA Championship Wentworth

This event kicks off tomorrow and looks to be a pretty entertaining and hopefully exciting tournament

Not sure exactly on the OGWR situation - I believe Lee can't quite make it to #1 even if he wins but I@m not sure where relative finishes need to be between Luke and Rory for the lead to change

The weather seems set fair for a bit of a scorcher though - I understand there is live coverage Thursday/Friday on Sky with highlights later on BBC and then for the weekend the BBC take over the live coverage and Sky get the highlights!

BTW for any of you Twitterati @BMWPGA2012 are doing a very good job of official updates from the course

For the gamblers out there, Alvaro Quiros seems a very high price and may just be worth a little punt

Apparently the crowds for the pro-am today were larger than usual, I expect they will rake it in over the next four days with this lovely weather.

See that Michael Campbell got a hole in one - no car though.

Thanks for the Twitter info Davie.

Talking of twitter, Mary I saw your boy mentioned something about a bad day where he felt like he had someone else's arms. Tell him I want them back now!

You are the first person who has admitted ownership of the rogue arms! Apparently they rarely appear on practice days, preferring to make their entrance during a tournament. Please take them back a.s.a.p.

I see that Jonathan Yarwood is ruffling feathers by stating that Tim Henman (who played in the Pro-Am) could easily play on the Challenge Tour. I think he was paired with Michael Campbell, so, no offence, but not the best pro to judge him against!

Who exactly is Jonathon Yarwood anyway?

Though I suspect Tim-nice-but-dim would be great on the challenge tour - he has lots of experience of being rubbish

Jonathon Yarwood is some up himself coach. I believe he used to have a column in Golfpunk; is that still going?

First players are off and it looks already as if the excitement is getting too much for the scoreboard operators with the official online leaderboard showing Paul Lawrie at -3 after 1 hole (a 490 yd par4) - obviously a mistake but would be interesting to know what the story is!

Well Lawrie is now back in his rightful place on the leaderboard (he hasn't even started yet!) - just teeing off about now.

First group off now through 7 holes and scores ranging from -2 to +3 so a fairly even start

George Cotezee off to a good start -3 through 5. The South Africans are becoming a presence to be reckoned with.

A double from Westwood on 3 and Poulter and Lawrie both start off with bogeys. Harrington 4 over after 2 (a bogey on the first and a 6 on the par3 2nd)

Seems this redesigned course has some teeth - the conditions will be perfect out there

I've just calculated that I'm about 7.5 miles from Wentworth as the crow flies here at the office - and I swear I could almost hear the cries of "Luuuuuuuke" from here as he goes to -4 after 8

What is going on with McIlroy?...too much concentration on tennis and not enough on golf perhaps?

Have to admit I'm not so keen on him since he hooked up with the tennis pro and the new management group. Comes across as too slick and coached in his interviews now - and maybe a bit smug at times?

Might do Rory a powerfull lot of good to miss a cut, should make him focus more on what's important, meaning he his a golfer first, and forget the rest of the crap.

Might do Rory a bit of good OP, but it won't do much for my fantasy league score!

BlueCoverman wrote:Might do Rory a bit of good OP, but it won't do much for my fantasy league score!

Luckily I, I mean Ray, I mean me, only had him as a reserve

I am consoled in the knowledge Grumps that however poorly I score this week, it will be a lot greater than if I had forgotten to enter

oldparwin wrote:Might do Rory a powerfull lot of good to miss a cut, should make him focus more on what's important, meaning he his a golfer first, and forget the rest of the crap.

After a 79 today, there is a lot of crap to forget about

Watched some his round, and he did play a lot of crap, however they say you are only as good as your last hole, at least Rory birdied that.

Just back from a great day out at Wentworth - didn't think I was going to go this year but I got a phone call about 8:30 last night from a mate who'd just been offered two free passes for the day - so it was hard to refuse!

Scorching hot there with not as much wind as Fri/Sat and the crowds were huge - we didn't bother trying to follow any particular group - just kept finding a decent spot (particularly mid way down par 5s where we could see the tee shot in the distance, the second shot from close up and still see what was happening on the greens)

Ended up sitting in these positions and watching the last 5 or 6 groups come through then skipping a few holes and repeating the process

Others who watched on TV will have got a better feel for the competition overall I'm sure but it was great to watch the top players come through

Man it was hot though!

Best shot I saw today was Justin Rose absolutely rip a 3 wood for his second to 17 - unfortunately we didn't have much of a clue how it ended from where we were watching but I think he birdied it - it was the best 2nd shot on that hole we saw all the time we sat there though - I think a lot were laying up though we couldn't really tell how close they were

Great day out though - now I feel I need a bucket of ice to soak my feet in!

Oh yeah - and Luke won - what a great champion - I was also there 12 months ago when he beat Westy in the playoff. He must really have some great feelings for Wentworth

BTW did anyone who watched the live TV coverage see what happened on the 13th with the Marcel Ciem group? (I can't remember who his partner was)

As I mentioned above I was stood about half way down the 12th fairway watching the action on that hole but the 13th came back up behind where I was standing. As the Ciem group teed off there was a huge shout of "Fore" and I turned around to look towards the 13th and it looked like a spectator caught one full on the head or face. Seemed like a nasty one and the crowds milled around there for quite some time (though that may have just been waiting for the player to come and play his second shot).

I didn't hear anything afterwards but I hope the guy was ok as it looked pretty serious

Having watched a lot of this on tv, I was struck by the way many of the top players were blown away. Seems that it was tougher going in the afternoon on days 1 and 2 because the wind got up, and the greens were hard and bouncy. But the way some of them conceded was a bit odd. It was as if the likes of Lee, Rory, GMac and Pod just accepted the worst, smiled and didn't bother. The picture of Pod walking down the 17th eating an ice cream was like he'd just decided to forget it this year.

Really pleased for Luke and thought that Justin should/could have put him under a bit more pressure, but well played to him too. Ernies rant was funny and I really felt sorry for Young Morrison who put himself in with a great chance but blew up on day 3. I hope he can use this experience to good effect and put himself in the picture more now. before this weekend his best result was tied 36th, so a top 10 finish earns him a good cheque and much needed points.

I've just read that apparently Monty drove all the way up to Perth immediately after Wentworth, picked up a putter and drove all the way back down to Walton Heath for today's US Open qualie - and shot a 68!

He could have borrowed one of mine, I've got about 30 in the garage!

Mary_S wrote:Have to admit I'm not so keen on him since he hooked up with the tennis pro and the new management group. Comes across as too slick and coached in his interviews now - and maybe a bit smug at times?

Quite agree - and he seems to have his brains in his d**k at the moment. Needs to focus on what is important (ie golf) and stop swanning around pretending to be half of a celebrity couple. I suspect that's what Chubby might have said to him which caused the split! I was a little concerned when he said last year that he'd won enough money already. Now he's not trying - mind you, nor were most of the other top players, either. Thank goodness for Luuuuke to restore faith in the OWR and well done to him. I hope he keeps the top spot for a long time this time.

LadyPutt wrote:
Quite agree - and he seems to have his brains in his d**k at the moment. Needs to focus on what is important (ie golf) and stop swanning around pretending to be half of a celebrity couple.

It's really up to him to decide what to focus on. He's a 23 year old multi millionaire, maybe he's decided that it is time to have some fun in his life, and that his success so far entitles him to enjoy himself a little. Maybe golf comes second for him.

It's a bit like Casey going snowboarding, which is a bit risky for a professional sportsman, and of course he ended up dislocating his shoulder. These guys answer only to themselves, nobody pays them a salary, so they can do what they want.

Like he has not had much fun so far Ray?...