DP World Tour; BMW PGA Championship : Leaderboard
Weather : Sunny, windy ENE 15-255 mph, warm 23*c
edit **** I have posted the front nine and will post the back nine tomorrow...
The 2024 BMW PGA Championship is the 40th consecutive edition of this event to be held at the prestigious Wentworth Club. Here’s the take of Billy Foster, caddie to Major Champion Matt Fitzpatrick, on how players may look to tackle the West Course this year.
Hole One:
Par 4 | 473 Yards | 433 Metres
There’s two ways of playing the first hole and it depends on the wind conditions. You can hit a 3-wood to the top of the hill between 280-290 yards which will leave an elevated second shot down to the green with a 5-iron. The second option is to be a bit more aggressive and hit driver over the top, but the fairway slopes dramatically left to right and the ball normally ends up in the right-hand rough. Getting onto the green with that second shot from the rough isn’t as easy as you think, so the sensible play is to hit the 3-wood off the tee and leave yourself a 5-iron into the middle of the green. It’s a challenging hole so take your four and move on to the second.
Hole Two
Par 3 | 154 Yards | 141 Metres
Usually playing around 155 yards so a 9-iron is typically the club of choice. The wind can be tricky here and normally plays from the left quite a bit. There’s a massive false front so if you’re landing it front-edge of the green it’s going to spin off 20-25 yards short which leaves a blind uphill chip shot. There is a big bunker short right which gobbles up a lot of tee shots and a big tree there as well. You want to be in the middle of the green which will always leave you a birdie putt. It’s a tricky little hole.
Hole Two
Par 3 | 154 Yards | 141 Metres
Usually playing around 155 yards so a 9-iron is typically the club of choice. The wind can be tricky here and normally plays from the left quite a bit. There’s a massive false front so if you’re landing it front-edge of the green it’s going to spin off 20-25 yards short which leaves a blind uphill chip shot. There is a big bunker short right which gobbles up a lot of tee shots and a big tree there as well. You want to be in the middle of the green which will always leave you a birdie putt. It’s a tricky little hole.
Hole Three
Par 4 | 459 Yards | 420 Metres
This one is up there with one of the toughest holes on the golf course. It’s an uphill tee shot with traps up the right which you can’t really carry. Basically, you try and hit a driver at the right edge of the left-hand bunker off the tee which leaves you in the region of a 5-6 iron for the second shot uphill. The green has a false front so if you’re short it will roll off the front, you’ve also got deep bunkers left and right as well as plateau at the right-hand side, the front and another one middle-left at the back. It has three different levels so it’s a tricky green but a lot easier if you get it on the right level. If you don’t, you’re facing a very tricky two-putt and if you miss the green you’ve got those deep bunkers so it’s quite difficult to get your chip close to the pin because of the three different levels. It’s one of the most challenging holes on the golf course.
Hole Four
Par 5 | 552 Yards | 505 Metres
The fourth hole is a blind tee shot par five – if you get your drive away it should be a great birdie chance, possibly eagle chance. It’s all about the tee shot, you have to draw the tee shot and probably move the ball in the air around 10 yards to hold the fairway because it slopes left to right. There’s a ditch around the 380-yard mark, which sounds a lot, but if it’s firm and severely downhill, the ball can run towards that ditch so some days you may have to hit a 3-wood, especially off the front tee. The second shot is about 10 yards downhill so you want to be hitting a 4, 5 or 6-iron to the green. You’d be disappointed if you didn’t make birdie here.
Hole Five
Par 3 | 203 yards | 186 Metres
A par-three that has two or three different levels on the green and a downslope on the middle of the green which feeds the ball to the back-right. It’s a mid-iron, 5-iron sort of shot from the tee – depending on the wind it can be tricky getting the right club in your hand. You’re looking to pitch it front half of the green or middle of the green at the most if the pin is at the back because it will feed down to that back-right pin. If you land it too far it’s going over the back of the green and if you miss the green it’s a tricky up-and-down.
Hole Six
Par 4 | 418 Yards | 382 Metres
The sixth hole has been extended a lot over the years. They took the tee back about 60 yards 10 years ago so now you’ve got a bunker on the left which is 265 to carry and a big bunker on the right which is 285 to reach. A lot of guys will probably hit a 3-wood off the tee and try and leave it short of the right-hand bunker. Fitz being Fitz will be more than happy to hit driver past all the trouble, even if it finishes in the left-hand rough it’s only going to be a sand wedge or gap wedge to a fairly flattish green. Again, if you get your tee shot away it’s a birdie chance.
Hole Seven
Par 4 | 396 Yards | 362 Metres
The seventh hole all depends on the firmness of the fairway. You’ve got the top of the hill at 220 yards and there’s a ditch that runs across the middle of the fairway at 290 so you’re not looking to pitch it more than 230-240 off the tee at the most. A lot of guys will hit a 5 or 7-wood off the tee and leave it down at the bottom, which will leave a 9-iron to an elevated green. It’s a difficult green to get it close because there’s a very severe slope in the middle which is an extra 15 yards carry on the right and 22 yards carry in the middle to a fairly shallow back shelf. So, you’re probably hitting a 9-iron which plays around five yards uphill against tricky winds – it’s hard to get it on that back plateau. It’s easier to one bounce it or you can leave yourself a tricky chip. If you land it in the middle of the green it spins back down to the front.
Hole Eight
Par 4 | 400 Yards | 366 Metres
The guys will probably hit a 4-iron off the tee to around 240-250 yards because there’s a bank that runs across the fairway at 260. You can fly it over the bank with a 280-yard carry but then you have water at 310 so if it’s playing firm it can bounce along into there. The best way to play the hole is a 4-iron off the tee, leaving you 7 or 8-iron into a narrow green, which is probably only 15-18 yards wide, with water on the left and a fairly steep slope to the right. You’re always happy to make par here and move on to the next.
Hole Nine
Par 4 | 449 Yards | 411 Metres
Ninth hole is usually a driver or 3-wood off the tee downwind with bunkers out wide left and right. The left one is more in-play than the right as you can fly it past that one. You’re better off being a bit more aggressive off this tee and getting it out there 300 yards or so, leaving yourself an 8-iron to the green. It’s sort of a semi-blind shot to the green with a big bunker short left, run off to the right and run off back left so you want to get it in the middle of the green. If you aim for the middle, you’re never going to leave yourself that long of a birdie putt.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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