Golf,

Hovland heading for the hat-trick

BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP


Best bets

2pts each-way Viktor Hovland @ 13/2
2pts each-way Tom Kim @ 22/1
1pt each-way Shane Lowry @ 16/1
0.5pt each-way Tyrrell Hatton @ 18/1
0.5pt each-way Ludvig Aberg @ 20/1

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Twelve months ago the thrilling Sunday showdown between Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm lit up a sombre Wentworth still, like the rest of the country, mourning the loss of our beloved Queen on the opening day of the BMW PGA Championship.

In common with other sporting events, Friday’s play was cancelled and Europe’s flagship tournament cut to 54 holes. Torrential rain had drawn the teeth from the fearsome West course, softening the fairways and birdie-shooters ran riot.

Min Woo Lee used the unexpected free time on the Friday to join the thousands paying their respects outside Buckingham Palace, returned inspired to shoot a 62 on Saturday, 14 shots fewer than he’d signed for on Thursday.

Rahm, covering the longer back nine in just 29 blows on Sunday, equalled Min Woo’s score and set a target that only Lowry bettered. McIlroy’s eagle putt at the last stopped on the edge of the hole all but forced extra time. “I wouldn’t have fancied a playoff with him,” admitted the relieved winner. It was sweet revenge for Lowry who had been pipped by Rory’s birdie-birdie finish in 2014.

In truth, a Lowry victory at Wentworth wasn’t coming out of turn after four top-tens and nine top-20s since his debut in 2010. “I love coming here, the area, I just love everything about it,” enthused the 2019 Open champion who was recording his first win anywhere since that life-changing week at Royal Portrush.

This time the burly Irishman arrived as defending champion after a less successful 2023 in which only one top-ten had been posted, and that back in February, until Sunday’s confidence-boosting share of third behind shock winner Vincent Norrman at the Irish Open.
More than the actual result, it was the perfect riposte  to those who felt Lowry’s golf this year did not entitle him to a wild-card pick for the Ryder Cup. Now comes a bigger test on the 7267-yard par 72 course where all the giants of the game have displayed their talents. I saw Arnold Palmer win the first Piccadilly World Match Play on the Burma Road in 1964, later Gary Player, Seve Ballesteros and Ernie Els many times over – and Tiger Woods lose to his buddy Mark O’Meara in the 1998 final. He never came back.

And shocks galore in the BMW PGA … who remembers Scott Drummond, not even an  household name in his own household , Andy Oldcorn or Simon Khan? All massive outsiders but they conquered Wentworth in the biggest week of their golfing lives.
It’s hard to see any 500/1 shot copping this week’s special edition, unique in that all 12 members of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team will be teeing it up, from McIlroy and Masters champion Rahm to FedEx Cup hero Viktor Hovland and exciting new boy Ludvig Aberg, the cool US-based Swede who birdied his way to European Masters glory in Switzerland and is more than capable of staging a repeat against the stronger, deeper opposition he faces at Wentworth.

Rory backers needed to lie down in a darkened room after the star attraction had, not for the first time, tossed away a clear-cut victory opportunity in front of his own people with a bizarre final-round Sunday performance. The faithful will no doubt get behind their man again but preference is for Fitzdares’ other joint-favourite Hovland who is chasing his third straight W and his second BMW title in a month.

He was co-leader going into the third and final day at Wentworth last year but had to settle for fifth. With spectacular improvement noted in his chipping and putting, the aggressive Norwegian should surely improve on that this weekend.

With the Ryder Cup just around the corner ideally one of the 12 heading for Rome will pick up the main prize – there’s $9m on the table – closely pursued by fellow team members. But which ones? After a phenomenal start to the year, Rahm’s recent efforts have been a mixed bag. Tommy Fleetwood’s consistency is not in question but Wentworth rarely shows him in the best light – it’s eight years since his only top-ten there. Tyrrell Hatton is another one searching for a win this campaign but is a past champion (2020) and may come out best if Hovland and Lowry don’t do the business.

It’s not all about the Ryder Cup squad though as the 2021 champion Billy Horschel is back for more and Korean boy wonder Tom Kim is another fascinating visitor.

Mighty impressive on previous UK raids (third and sixth in two Scottish Opens, runner-up with Rahm, Jason Day and Sepp Straka in The Open itself despite limping from taking a wrong step on the patio at the house he was renting), he could well add to his laurels on Wentworth debut.

True, he is one of the shorter hitters in the field and tree-lined Wentworth has five long par fours  – the first (the hardest hole on the course), the two-tier-green third, the ninth, 13th and 15th – that sort the men out from the boys but there is nothing in the book that says bombers are required. Matteo Manassero, Francesco Molinari, Alex Noren and Horschel all prevailed without having heavy artillery.

I was thinking of putting Horschel up again until he imploded so dramatically at the K Club on Sunday but I’m more confident about another raider from the PGA Tour, the extravagantly gifted Kim.

If his compatriot Byeong-Hun (Ben) Ahn can tear the course apart as he did when winning by six as a virtual unknown back in 2015, then Kim can surely emulate him.

Adam Scott, Joost Luiten, Matt Fitzpatrick and Thomas Detry (T5 with Hovland last year) all have each-way claims and down among the three-figure prices you should get a run for your money from course specialist Frankie Molinari.

It bucketed down last year and we’re going to get more of the same this weekend. But the good news is that it will be dry and warm for the first two days. Who’ll be singin’ in the rain on Sunday afternoon?

FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP


Best bets

2pts each-way Justin Thomas @ 14/1
2pts each-way Max Homa @ 15/2
1pt each-way Sahith Theegala @ 16/1
0.5pt each-way Akshay Bhatia @ 40/1
0.5pt each-way Taylor Montgomery @ 40/1

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Nobody will forget the 2022 Fortinet Championship in a hurry. It was gifted to defending champion Max Homa when England’s Danny Willett embarrassingly triple-putted from 43 inches.

Willett, no nervous rookie but winner of the Masters in 2016, took a one-stroke lead up the last, Homa chipped in from off the green for a birdie, asking the question but getting an answer he never in a thousand years expected. Willett who had to hole from just short of 4ft to beat him, not only bulleted the ball almost 5ft past the hole, he missed the return putt too and Homa was home free without even having to play off.

Now lucky Homa is chasing a Fortinet three-peat at Silverado in California’s wine country at Napa in the first of seven FedEx Cup Fall tournaments. The series sorts out the top 125 to keep their main-tour cards for 2024.

Few big names get involved in these early skirmishes and, not surprisingly, the two Ryder Cup men in the field, Homa and Justin Thomas, dominate the market.

After a nightmare year that has realised no wins and only three top-tens, JT is a controversial pick for the big match in Rome but there was a shaft of light at the end of the tunnel with a 12th on his last outing at the Wyndham.

A Major champion as recently as last year, Thomas is out to justify Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson’s faith and prove that the problems, particularly on the greens, which have marred his year have been successfully negotiated.

Fourth at Silverado’s North course on his last visit in 2019 (and 8-4-3 for the last three), he is the one class act in a mediocre field who could disrupt Homa’s Napa hat-trick. If JT flops, it’s hard to see who is going to stop Fitzdares’ 15/2 favourite because the champion has had a stellar year with no sign of letting up.

Homa’s last five finishes, 12-10-6-5-9, in the very best of company – Open Championship, Scottish Open and the three FedEx playoffs – tell the story of sublime consistency and a self-belief that comes from a two-win year and a final realisation he belongs among the elite. The value of playing in his home state where four of his six victories have come is not to underestimated either.

Players will find a re-routed Silverado facing them with ten holes in a different order from last year but the test of Johnny Miller’s 2011 redesign remains the same – plenty of doglegs and small, slopy greens. The accent on a par 72 of just 7123 yards is on accuracy but with the rough not too tough, huge hitters like 2019 winner Cameron Champ can often get away with missing the narrow, fast-running fairways.

Steady, consistent operators like Brendan Todd and Stephan Jaeger should be in their element but I’m expecting greater things from young bucks Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia. The new campaign got off to a good start for Barracuda winner Bhatia as he has just got engaged. Only 21, he showed more than enough this year – three top-tens on top of that late-season victory – to impress again in his home state. As a North Californian, he will have plenty of support.

Both have encouraging course form, Theegala sixth last year and 11th in his rookie season, 2020. That year Bhatia took ninth place just ahead of Theegala. A year that started brightly for Theegala with top-six performances in good company and ended on the upswing of top-15s in the first two FedEx playoffs failed to produce that elusive first W. This is likely to be the 25-year-old’s breakthrough year.

Cam Davis, Andrew Putnam, Lucas Herbert and late bloomer Eric Cole come into the conversation along with past Fortinet winners Stewart Cink and monster hitter Champ but I’ll play a hunch that Taylor Montgomery, whose rookie year got off to an impressive start but petered out as the year wore on, has got his mojo back.

The 28-year-old Las Vegas native was rolling the dice like a surefire future winner when he reeled off eight top-16 finishes in his first nine starts – his third to Homa and Willett at Fortinet the pick – but with money in the bank and no worries about keeping his card, the edge seemed to fall off his game. He is too big a talent to waste it.

We’re heading into four dry days with temperatures in the low 80s – flawless weather accompanied by a bottle of Napa’s best Cabernet Sauvignon. A winner already!


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