BlogBMW PGA Preview and Picks

The Buzz:

This is the most prestige event on the European Tour.  It’s played on a classic old course Wentworth, about 20 miles west of London.  Over the years it’s been a tough time getting a top-notch field as some European Tour members took passes to play on the PGA Tour instead of it’s tours premiere events. This year it’s missing it’s biggest draw, Rory McIlroy who decided to take a pass and not play.  He did play in three straight Wells Fargo, The Players and the Irish Open.  He wants to play at the Memorial so he had to choose a tournament not to play and this was it.

This event is at a cross roads right now.  It’s biggest problem is the venue and the folks that run Wentworth.  It was bought by a Chinese firm last year and they have come in and want to seriously restructure the membership and the amount people are paying.  The community of Wentworth is one of the richest in England and is on par to Beverly Hills, California.  The people who live in Wentworth and are members have deep pockets and don’t complain about what something is costing, but they are all hitting the roof over the price hikes and what is becoming of Wentworth.

In a way the organization in the middle is the European Tour. They have their offices next to the clubhouse and have been there since they first started.  In a way they feel of Wentworth like the PGA Tour does toward TPC Sawgrass.  The big difference is the PGA Tour owns and runs TPC Sawgrass and can do whatever they want with it.  But the European Tour has no say at Wentworth and to be frank the relationship isn’t the best.  The club started making changes to the course five years ago that didn’t go very well, players didn’t like it and a lot of players haven’t played in this event like Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington and Justin Rose.

Is there a solution to all of the problems with Wentworth, probably not.  One of the biggest complaints from the players was the redesign and the greens, after this year’s tournament both of those problems will be addressed  I don’t know the structure of the contract between Wentworth and the European Tour on how long the BMW PGA is to be played on the course, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the European Tour going elsewhere in the near future.  Nobody knows where, but this is the plum jewel of the European Tour and they need a special course and probably one in London.  Lot’s of candidates, the area has a dozen of the greatest courses in the world, but to get one that can hold a big tournament that is tough.

But I don’t see the future anymore of this event sticking at Wentworth with all of it’s problems.

Fantasy Golf – In the United States we have Draft Kings, or should I say must of us that don’t live in states like New York, Arizona, Nevado and Washington that bans the games.  I love the challenge, a bit like playing a lottery but you have more control of the game.  But till last week the only game in town was the PGA Tour.  Over in England they have legalize gambling and you can bet on the outcome of the tournament or certain match-ups.  But there was no fantasy games like Draft Kings until last week.  A British company has done a deal with the European Tour and last week did the first fantasy game in the United Kingdom.  That company is Playon.com and there game is the same as Draftkings with one change, you draft seven players instead of six.  I can’t legally play Playon.com, because of gambling laws in the United States the company won’t let me have an account.  Now I was able to play in their “free-game” in which I finished 2nd and won a whopping two pounds and ten cents.  It was nice playing a different tour and the problems associated with that.  The good news is that now Draft Kings is starting a European Tour game so we can now play that tour.

I have played Draft Kings games for about a year and have found a way to win, a lot has to do with what game you chose.  Of course if you pick the big games with the biggest payouts, you have to contend with several hundred thousands of players and then it’s nothing more than a lottery because it’s hard to chose six good players.  But if you go with the lesser games, looking for a finish that will earn you $40 or $50, your way ahead.

After I finish this preview I will have a short Draft King blog on my picks and explain a bit further some of the secrets I have learned in playing Draft Kings games.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the BMW PGA Championship.

Key stat for the winner:

The course is a classic shotmaker course, that is why those that hit lot’s of greens like Luke Donald have done well at Wentworth.  Having a short game is also important because for those that miss the greens, getting it up and down is tough as there are a lot of bumps and knolls around these greens.  But the key to playing well is to hit lot’s of greens like last year’s winner Byeong-Hun An did, he only missed 11 greens all week leading the field in greens hit.  To show how important it is to hit greens, going back to 2009 all of champions but Rory McIlroy were in the top-ten of greens hit.

Since major work was done on Wentworth in 2011, the par 4s are really tough, some of the hardest on the European Tour with five of the 12 playing over 449 yards.  In the last four years, those that made the cut have played the par 4s in 5.8 over par so you can see how Luke Donald won in 2012 when he played the 4s in 3 under, Matteo Manassero was 1 over in his ’13 win, Rory McIlroy played the par 4s in 1 under in 2014 and Byeong-Hun An was 3 under on the par 4s last year.

Experience has always been a key to winning as you see the list of champions including Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros. Last year Byeong-Hun An won at 23 years old and evne though he wasn’t well know, he did with the U.S. Open in 2009 at the age of 17.  Even at 21-years-old, Matteo Manassero has tons of experience as he had already won three times before his Wentworth victory. But others with very little experience like Simon Khan, Scott Drummond and Ignacio Garrido have won.  Still have to go with the player with lot’s of experience, even though guys like Ernie Els, Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington have yet to grace the winner’s circle at the BMW PGA.

Now for those that don’t like backing “Seniors” you will change your mind with Miguel Angel Jimenez.  In 2014 he became the first over 50 to win on the European Tour at the Spanish Open, he followed it up with a win in Hong Kong.  He is a past champion but if you watch Jimenez he acts more like a player in his late 30s.  He also loves his vices like Cuban cigars, big steaks and red wine and in 2014 got re-married so maybe that is the reason for his great play.

Weather will be good for Thursday and Friday’s round.  But the weekend looks a bit dicey as Thunderstorms and showers could plague the tournament.