It took seven more holes before Danny Willett actually won the BMW PGA Championship, but in reality he had made sure of it when he holed a 20-yard putt on the 11th green of Wentworth’s West Course for a bogey in Sunday’s final round. Considering that during the course of playing that hole the 31-year-old Englishman had been in trees, in heather, in sand and in some discomfort because he had appeared to injure a wrist before he reached the putting surface, to drop only one stroke was some achievement. Thereafter, he never showed even a glimpse of weakness to his chasers – among them Jon Rahm, Rafa Cabrera-Bello, Shubhankar Sharma and Christiaan Bezuidenhout – and his 67 took him to 20-under par, three strokes ahead of Rahm in the end.
But then for Willett to win was some achievement too. He had begun 2018 by missing nine cuts and withdrawing from one of his first 12 tournaments. In mid-summer he was ranked 462nd in the world. At that time his victory in the 2016 Masters and his Ryder Cup appearance that same year must have seemed a lifetime ago. Injuries, swing alterations and a change of swing coach had contributed to a wretched time for a man who had got to ninth in the world ranking after his triumph at Augusta.
Late last year, having begun working with Sean Foley, the swing coach, he won the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to demonstrate that he was approaching his best form once again. On Sunday, over Wentworth’s difficult and tricky closing holes, he played tidy, sensible, error-free golf. He outscored Rahm, with whom he had been tied on 15 under at the start, by three strokes.
“I am incredibly proud of what I have been able to achieve these past 10 months,” Willett said. “It’s nice to be happy in all aspects, not just golf.”
Moving this event from its traditional slot in May to September as part of the changes in the world golf calendar proved a success. The course was in better condition than it often has been earlier in the year and there were few, if any, complaints from the players. The spectators appeared to love it. More than 25,000 were in attendance on Saturday.
Known unofficially as the flagship event of the European Tour, the BMW PGA marked the start of the race for points to be in the Europe Ryder Cup team next year. Willett, Rahm, Justin Rose, who finished eighth, and Rory McIlroy, who was T9, all can be considered to have made a good start to ensuring they are playing at Whistling Straits in September 2020.
JOHN HOPKINS