TOUR NEWS:AS A much sterner challenge awaits players for the European Tour's flagship event, the €4.5 million BMW PGA Championship over the West Course at Wentworth starting on Thursday, following the renovations of Ernie Els, his compatriot Retief Goosen has been forced to concede defeat in his bid to regain fitness.
Goosen, a two-time US Open champion and ranked 15th in the world, incurred the freak injury when chasing his two children. It left him with a broken toe which has seen him remain inactive since last month’s US Masters, with the player missing out on planned appearances at the Quail Hollow Championship and The Players. Now, he has added the PGA to the list.
Unfortunately, Goosen isn’t alone in missing the championship. Jose Maria Olazabal’s place in the field has gone to England’s Richard McEvoy after the Spaniard – who suffers from arthritis – believed he wouldn’t be able to play four successive days.
And former US Open champion Michael Campbell has decided to extend his hiatus from the sport. The Kiwi shot rounds of 83 and 81 to miss the cut at the Masters and announced he was taking an extended break.
With five of the world’s top-10 players included – Lee Westwood (three), Ian Poulter (six), Ernie Els (seven), Paul Casey (eight) and Rory McIlroy (nine) – the championship offers a significant number of ranking points which should have Graeme McDowell, among others, on tenterhooks.
The Ulsterman is number 50 and needs to stay there after the event if he is to earn automatic entry into next month’s US Open at Pebble Beach and the British Open at St Andrews.
If he falls back out of the top 50, McDowell will be required to go through the qualifying routes for both majors.
McIlroy and McDowell are part of a strong Irish contingent in the field, which also features Pádraig Harrington – playing in the event for the first time since 2007 – as well as Shane Lowry, Darren Clarke, Peter Lawrie, Damien McGrane, Michael Hoey, Paul McGinley, Gareth Maybin and David Higgins.
Harrington announced on his website he will undergo keyhole surgery next Tuesday on a knee injury which he sustained in a football kickabout with friends.
That means he will miss the Wales Open at Celtic Manor – which plays host to the Ryder Cup in October – but is aimed at him gaining full recovery for next month’s US Open.
In fact, Harrington plans to return to tournament play at the previous week’s St Jude Classic, a tournament he traditionally uses as a warm-up for the major.
Harrington has had a love-hate relationship with Wentworth – he enjoyed playing it in the Matchplay when it was staged there in October, but didn’t like the over-seeding on the greens in May.
However, Els has overseen an overhaul of every green in the past 12 months which has transformed the course’s challenge.
Other remodelling – including a brook on the 18th fairway which will force many players to lay up rather than attempt to reach the green on the par five in two – will make for a much tougher examination.
Certainly, we’re unlikely to see scoring such as that of Anders Hansen (2002) and Scott Drummond (2004) when the winning totals were 269, 19 under.
Harrington, in fact, was one of those players most vocal about the need to change the greens. Now the job has been done, he has committed to playing.
On a recent visit, he remarked, “I’m really impressed with the changes that have been made and, in particular, I’m happy to see the way that the greens are now putting.”
Of Europe’s biggest names all except Sergio Garcia are in this week’s field, while invitations have been handed to 17-year-old Italian Matteo Manassero, English pair Oliver Fisher and Simon Khan, Scot Stephen Gallacher, South African Keith Horne and Spain’s Alejandro Canizares, who lost a play-off in Majorca on Sunday to Peter Hanson.
