Golf Channel Reporter Steve Sands is in Surrey, England this week for coverage of the BMW PGA Championship. Ernie Els, who has been criticized by players for his redesign of Wentworth, has gotten off to a great start in the first round. He got to six under at one point before falling back to four under but he will have a pair of par 5s on 17 and 18 to try to get back to six under or even better.
Rory McIlroy has a so-so record in the BMW PGA Championship and when he was asked about it, he seemed to imply that he was not the biggest fan of Wentworth but he has said that he likes the changes that have been made to the course during the last couple of years.
Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel, and Rich Beem are the only Americans in the field at Wentworth this week and the European Tour would love to have more Americans. When Rory McIlroy was asked about this, he said that it may be a better idea to just let the Europeans and European Tour members enjoy the BMW PGA Championship as their flagship just as the Americans enjoy THE PLAYERS as the PGA TOUR’s flagship event.