The DP World Tour takes centre stage this week as the flagship BMW PGA Championship gets underway at Wentworth.
Dating as far back as 1955, it is perhaps the most prestigious event on the circuit. Past champions in the likes of Tony Jacklin, Arnold Palmer, Sir Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Collin Montgomerie certainly attest to that, with one member destined to join elite company later this week.
Billy Horschel carded a final round 65 last year to finish one shot clear of Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Laurie Canter and Jamie Donaldson and overtake overnight leader Francesco Laporta. In doing so, Horschel became just the second American to win the illustrious tournament - joining The King, Arnold Palmer.
The 35-year-old returns to Wentworth this year in a bid to become the first player since Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald in 2012 to successfully defend the title.
This week's field boasts 13 of the top-50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, including recently-crowned FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman, who was recently named a PGA Tour Player of the Year candidate, will tee it up for the first time since his success at East Lake.
Former World No.1 Jon Rahm is also present in the field and will be joined by this year's US Open champion, Matt Fitzpatrick. The European duo will tee it up alongside Norwegian Viktor Hovland, who is fancied by many this week.
The golfing world has been dominated by the emergence of LIV Golf in recent months, with the Saudi-backed venture and the two established eco-systems now going head-to-head in the courtroom.
The DP World Tour denied its members release requests to play in the inaugural event at the Centurion Club in June and issued a three-tournament suspension alongside a £100,000 fine to those that disobeyed. Ian Poulter spearheaded a legal challenge and had the suspension "temporarily stayed" - the subsequent injunction placed on the DP World Tour prevents it from suspending LIV Golf players until the outcome of the hearing, which is reportedly set for February 2023.
As a direct result many LIV Golf defectors are in the field this week, including Abraham Ancer, Sergio Garcia, Talor Gooch, Graeme McDowell, Ian Poulter, Patrick Reed, Lee Westwood and Bernd Wiesberger.
One LIV Golf member who will not be in the field is Ryder Cup hero, Martin Kaymer. The German confirmed he withdrew from the tournament because of "friction" between the two Tours, adding: "I don't need to go to a place where, feel-wise, you're not that welcome."
DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley confirmed that LIV Golf members will not receive any "competitive disadvantage" but are not permitted to play in the Pro-Am and will not form part of televised featured groups. They are also actively encouraged not to wear LIV Golf apparel.
Much of the UK has been hit with torrential rain and thunderstorms and with more forecast, fans will look to the golfing gods in the hope it won't disrupt too much of the action at Wentworth, where players are competing for a whopping $8m prize fund.
2022 BMW PGA Championship Field
- Abraham Ancer
- Maverick Antcliff
- Kiradech Aphibarnrat
- Marcus Armitage
- Adri Arnaus
- Nino Bertasio
- Wil Besseling
- Lucas Bjerregaard
- Alexander Björk
- Thomas Bjørn
- Richard Bland
- Kristoffer Broberg
- Steven Brown
- Julien Brun
- Dean Burmester
- Rafa Cabrera Bello
- Jonathan Caldwell
- Jorge Campillo
- Alejandro Cañizares
- Laurie Canter
- John Catlin
- George Coetzee
- Nicolas Colsaerts
- Sean Crocker
- Thomas Detry
- Luke Donald
- Jamie Donaldson
- David Drysdale
- Victor Dubuisson
- Nacho Elvira
- Ewen Ferguson
- Darren Fichardt
- Ross Fisher
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Grant Forrest
- Ryan Fox
- Stephen Gallacher
- Sebastian Garcia Rodriguez
- Sergio Garcia
- Daniel Gavins
- Talor Gooch
- Ricardo Gouveia
- Branden Grace
- Julien Guerrier
- Joachim B. Hansen
- Justin Harding
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Marcus Helligkilde
- Scott Hend
- Lucas Herbert
- Garrick Higgo
- Nicolai Højgaard
- Rasmus Højgaard
- Billy Horschel
- David Horsey
- Sam Horsfield
- Viktor Hovland
- Greig Hutcheon
- Thongchai Jaidee
- Scott Jamieson
- Jazz Janewattananond
- Miguel Ángel Jiménez
- Matthew Jordan
- Rikard Karlberg
- Masahiro Kawamura
- Maximilian Kieffer
- Marcus Kinhult
- Kurt Kitayama
- Søren Kjeldsen
- Mikko Korhonen
- Joakim Lagergren
- Romain Langasque
- Francesco Laporta
- Pablo Larrazábal
- David Law
- Thriston Lawrence
- Min Woo Lee
- Haotong Li
- Shane Lowry
- Joost Luiten
- Robert Macintyre
- Graeme Mcdowell
- Rory Mcilroy
- Adrian Meronk
- Guido Migliozzi
- Edoardo Molinari
- Francesco Molinari
- James Morrison
- Shaun Norris
- Thorbjørn Olesen
- Wade Ormsby
- Adrian Otaegui
- Chris Paisley
- Andrea Pavan
- Matthieu Pavon
- Eddie Pepperell
- Victor Perez
- Thomas Pieters
- Ian Poulter
- Tapio Pulkkanen
- Jon Rahm
- Aaron Rai
- Richie Ramsay
- Patrick Reed
- Justin Rose
- Antoine Rozner
- Kalle Samooja
- Matti Schmid
- Adam Scott
- Jason Scrivener
- Jack Senior
- Shubhankar Sharma
- Callum Shinkwin
- Jack Singh Brar
- Jordan Smith
- Sebastian Soderberg
- Matthew Southgate
- Richard Sterne
- Brandon Stone
- Andy Sullivan
- Connor Syme
- Santiago Tarrio
- Sami Välimäki
- Darius Van Driel
- Daniel Van Tonder
- Johannes Veerman
- Nicolai Von Dellingshausen
- Matt Wallace
- Justin Walters
- Marc Warren
- Lee Westwood
- Dale Whitnell
- Bernd Wiesberger
- Danny Willett
- Jeff Winther
- Chris Wood
- Ashun Wu
- Fabrizio Zanotti
2022 BMW PGA Championship Prize Money Breakdown
| Position | Prize Money |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,360,000 |
| 2 | $880,000 |
| 3 | $504,000 |
| 4 | $400,000 |
| 5 | $339,200 |
| 6 | $280,000 |
| 7 | $240,000 |
| 8 | $200,000 |
| 9 | $179,200 |
| 10 | $160,000 |
| 11 | $147,200 |
| 12 | $137,600 |
| 13 | $128,800 |
| 14 | $122,400 |
| 15 | $117,600 |
| 16 | $112,800 |
| 17 | $108,000 |
| 18 | $103,200 |
| 19 | $99,200 |
| 20 | $96,000 |
| 21 | $92,800 |
| 22 | $90,400 |
| 23 | $88,000 |
| 24 | $85,600 |
| 25 | $83,200 |
| 26 | $80,800 |
| 27 | $78,400 |
| 28 | $76,000 |
| 29 | $73,600 |
| 30 | $71,200 |
| 31 | $68,800 |
| 32 | $66,400 |
| 33 | $64,000 |
| 34 | $61,600 |
| 35 | $59,200 |
| 36 | $56,800 |
| 37 | $55,200 |
| 38 | $53,600 |
| 39 | $52,000 |
| 40 | $50,400 |
| 41 | $48,800 |
| 42 | $47,200 |
| 43 | $45,600 |
| 44 | $44,000 |
| 45 | $42,400 |
| 46 | $40,800 |
| 47 | $39,200 |
| 48 | $37,600 |
| 49 | $36,000 |
| 50 | $34,400 |
| 51 | $32,800 |
| 52 | $31,200 |
| 53 | $29,600 |
| 54 | $28,000 |
| 55 | $27,200 |
| 56 | $26,400 |
| 57 | $25,600 |
| 58 | $24,800 |
| 59 | $24,000 |
| 60 | $23,200 |
| 61 | $22,400 |
| 62 | $21,600 |
| 63 | $20,800 |
| 64 | $20,000 |
| 65 | $19,200 |
| 66 | $18,400 |
| 67 | $17,600 |
| 68 | $16,800 |
| 69 | $16,000 |
| 70 | $15,200 |
Who Won the 2021 BMW PGA Championship?
Billy Horschel carded a final round 65 last year to finish one shot clear of Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Laurie Canter and Jamie Donaldson and overtake overnight leader Francesco Laporta. In doing so, Horschel became just the second American to win the illustrious tournament - joining The King, Arnold Palmer.
The 35-year-old returns to Wentworth this year in a bid to become the first player since Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald in 2012 to successfully defend the title.
Where is the BMW PGA Championship being played?
The BMW PGA Championship will be contested at Wentworth Golf Club in Virginia Water, Surrey. Wentworth first played host to the event in 1972 but it has been held there each year since 1984.
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