Paul Casey will defend his BMW PGA Championship title against one of the strongest fields ever to have assembled for The European Tour’s flagship event, with five of the World’s Top Ten set to tee it up over Wentworth Club’s newly remodelled West Course.
European Number One Lee Westwood, Race to Dubai leader Ian Poulter and defending champion Casey will be joined next week by three-time Major Champion and course designer Ernie Els and the exciting Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy.
With World Number 11 Martin Kaymer and three-time Major Champion Padraig Harrington also in the field, there are 21 players from the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. No fewer than 26 of the top 30 in The Race to Dubai be challenging for lion’s share of the €4,500,000 prize fund.
The winners of ten of the last 12 PGA Championships at Wentworth Club will be present including multiple champions Anders Hansen of Denmark, winner in 2002 and 2007, and Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain Colin Montgomerie, winner of a hat-trick of titles from 1998 to 2000.
The roll-call of champions continues with 17 of the 19 winners from the 2010 European Tour International Schedule competing over the famous Surrey venue.
Westwood, at World Number Four has been in a rich vein of form over the past 12 months. He won the inaugural Dubai World Championship with one of the greatest performances ever witnessed in European golf to be crowned European Number One in 2009. In recent weeks he has finished second in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National and then tied fourth at the Players Championship at the TPC at Sawgrass on Sunday. Westwood has finished third, third and second in the last three Major Championships.
Poulter, winner of the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship in February and the leader of The Race to Dubai, returns to Wentworth after a two year absence looking to consolidate his position at the top or the rankings. Similarly Harrington, winner of two Open Championships and the US PGA Championship, also returns to the BMW PGA Championship after a two year break and the World Number 13 has already had a preview of the remodelled course having played an exclusive practice round last month.
Two of the most exciting young talents in world golf will also be under the spotlight. McIlroy, who turned 21 on May 4 just two days after becoming the youngest winner on the US PGA Tour since Tiger Woods in 1996, will play his third BMW PGA Championship looking to improve on his fifth place last year.
And Matteo Manassero, the 17 year old Italian who is breaking records at every turn, has received a special invitation to play. Manassero is the second youngest European Tour Member in history after the legendary Seve Ballesteros and made his professional debut in last week’s BMW Italian Open, finishing a respectable tied 29th. After becoming the youngest – and the first Italian – winner of the Amateur Championship last June, he went on to become the youngest winner of the Silver Medal awarded to the low amateur in The Open Championship at Turnberry and, last month, the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters Tournament in what was the best performance by a European amateur for 73 years.
About the BMW PGA Championship 2010
The BMW PGA Championship 2010 will boast one of the strongest fields on The European Tour International Schedule, with many of the world’s best players in action pursuing a prize fund of €4,500,000. All four days will be broadcast live on both BBC Television (May 22 and 23) and Sky Sports (May 20 and 21) with extensive highlights on both channels.
Tickets are now on sale for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club from May 20-23, 2010 viawww.europeantourtickets.com. Hospitality packages in ‘The Clubhouse’ of Wentworth Club are also available. Please visitwww.europeantourtickets.comor call +44 800 023 2557.
