Francesco Molinari, Matteo Manassero, Edoardo Molinari and Renato Paratore: these are the magnificent four blues who, this morning, will be in London for one of the most prestigious races of the European tour, the BMW Pga Championship which takes place on the Wentworth Club track, Virginia Water . This is an excellent opportunity for Italian golf: Matteo Manassero has already won this splendid competition and will be able to draw on his good memories to recover his best game; Francesco Molinari, who lives in London, is practically at home and will be able to take the opportunity to further improve his already excellent position in the world ranking; Renato Paratore is fighting to score points and get to the Olympics and will be able to commit himself to this task; Edoardo Molinari will try to reawaken the champion who sleeps in him, after a few unlucky years, especially from a physical point of view. The pot is important: 3,9 million euros in prize money and a title that all good players would like to have.
However, it must be admitted that, this year, the field is not one of great occasions. In fact, all the most important names are missing, starting with world number three Rory McIlroy who won this race two years ago. Even the European Tour's chief execuitve, Keith Pelley, was forced to admit that Wentworth is no longer the flagship tournament on the circuit. An observation that is also an invitation to correct any errors in the organization and to enhance the prize money. Consider in fact that, in 2017, the Italian Open will come immediately before Wentworth and will guarantee a stake of a good seven million euros, much higher than the BMW and also competitive with the big American tournaments.
In short, the BMW PGA Championship 2016 is somewhat penalized for many reasons: an agenda that is too full of appointments for the best players, who have been forced to make painful choices to make room for two more events such as the Olympics and the Ryder Cup ; the fact that, last week, two European "bombers" won the tournament of the week and that is Rory McIlroy prevailed in the Irish Open, while Sergio Garcia defeated the competition in the United States in the AT&T Byron Nelson; the layout is particularly punishing and has raised many criticisms in the past; a representative champion like Justin Rose was forced to withdraw due to back pain; finally on the American tour this week a beautiful, rich and attractive competition is played as the Dean and Deluca Invitational.
Moral: on the pitch we will only find 4 of the top 30 players in the world, among them Masters champion Danny Willett. The reigning champion Byeong Hun AN was also at the starting tees. The tournament is broadcast live on Sky Sports every day, from today to Sunday. On the US front, the Dean invitational is on stage, where world number two Jordan Spieth will be back on track, still in fluctuating form. Players to watch include Australian Adam Scott and defending champion Zach Jhonson. The course is the Colonial Country Club, a par 70 of 6500 metres. The prize pool is $6,7 million.
