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Danny Willett (ENG, 268, -20) wins at the prestigious BMW
PGA Championship (Wentworth Club, London). - The 2016 Masters champion defeats the best starting field ever.
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Second BMW title for Willett after victory at the 2012 BMW
International Open. -
Ross Fisher hits an albatross in the third round and wins a
BMW i8 Roadster*. -
109,664 spectators attend the fourth tournament in this
year’s Rolex Series. -
Qualification start for the 2020 Ryder Cup with “Worldwide
Partner” BMW.
Wentworth. Danny Willett of England celebrated an acclaimed
home win at the BMW PGA Championship. The 2016 Masters winner was
embroiled in a head-to-head race with Jon Rahm (-17) at the weekend,
but pulled away from the man from Spain in the final round and
brought the advantage safely home. The 31-year-old received a
winner’s cheque to the amount of 1,056,661 euros for his seventh win
on the European Tour. He also took the lead in qualifying for Team
Europe for the 2020 Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits (USA). Qualifying
for the legendary team competition, for which BMW will take on the
role of “Worldwide Partner” for the first time, ends next year with
the BMW PGA Championship.
“I would like to offer my heartfelt congratulations to Danny Willett
on a fantastic victory in the 2019 BMW PGA Championship,” said
Jean-Philipe Parain, BMW Senior Vice President Sales Region Europe, at
the award ceremony: “BMW is honoured to be the title partner of this
flagship event for the fifteenth consecutive year. There is always
such a great and electrified atmosphere here. Wentworth always has a
very special feeling and you can really sense everyone’s passion for
the BMW PGA Championship. I think we can all agree that this
championship has exceeded all expectations.”
Willett (68, 66, 68, 67 strokes) tied for the lead with Rahm after
the second and third rounds, but pulled away with three birdies on the
front nine on Sunday. On the demanding back nine, the Englishman kept
his nerve and control, making him the deserved winner in an
outstanding starting field.
“For us players and the European Tour, this is our most iconic
tournament. To win the BMW PGA Championship is amazing,” said Willett.
“It’s always nice to compete on home soil. It feels great to finally
win on such an iconic golf course with what is one of the best fields
I think they have had.”
Behind Willett and Rahm, South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-16)
finished in third place. On their BMW PGA Championship debut,
America’s Patrick Reed and Billy Horschel (both -15) tied for fourth
place, while defending champion Francesco Molinari (ITA, -9) had to
make do with tied fourteenth place this year. Four-time majors winner
Rory McIlroy (NIR, -11, T9) missed out on his second victory at
Wentworth after 2014, mainly due to a bad opening round (+4), but
showed his true close on the following three days. The best-ranked
German was Martin Kaymer (+2) in tied 57th place.
With 268 strokes, Willett was just one stroke off the tournament
record of -21, which was set by South Korea’s Byeong Hun An in 2015.
The Englishman is also only the third player in history to have won
both the BMW International Open and the BMW PGA Championship. Only
David Howell (ENG) and Miguel Ángel Jiménez (ESP) had previously
achieved this BMW double.
The shot of the tournament went to Englishman Ross Fisher on
Saturday. With a 4 iron, Ross Fisher circled his ball on the 478-metre
18th hole (par 5) into the hole with his second shot. The
38-year-old’s reward for the albatross rarely seen in golf was the
hybrid sports car BMW i8 Roadster Rosso Corsa. “To win the BMW i8
Roadster is still a bit shocking. Just surreal,” said Fisher, after
receiving the keys to the “BMW Albatross Prize”. “The BMW PGA
Championship is our Flagship Event, our most prestigious tournament to
play in all year round – which makes it even better.”
On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the tournament
with BMW as title partner, Championship Director Jamie Birkmyre said:
“The standards set by BMW are the highest you can possibly achieve.
BMW brought in a style that was so consistent with the way the
automobile manufacturer produces its fantastic cars. Every detail is
first class, there is no compromise. The BMW PGA Championship is the
benchmark: A stunning venue, world-class players, heritage, and
partners with prestigious, world-league brands.”
Together, the tournament has developed from an excellent golf event
into a festival over the years. 22,000 fans attended this year’s
Celebrity Pro-Am tournament – more than at any other Pro-Am to date –
and saw pop stars Niall Horan and Ronan Keating (both IRL), Manchester
United legends Ryan Giggs (WAL), Paul Scholes (ENG) and Nemanja Vidic
(SRB), as well as many other famous sports and showbiz personalities.
The third and fourth rounds were brought to a fitting close by the
renowned London drum and bass band Rudimental and popular English
singer Anne-Marie wowing thousands of fans with their live
performances on Saturday and Sunday evening.
* BMW i8 Roadster: Fuel consumption (combined): 2.0 l/100 km, CO2
emissions (combined): 46 g/km, energy consumption (combined): 14.5
kWh/100 km.