Sometimes a picture says more than a thousand words. Adrián Otaegui shakes hands with Matthew Baldwin at the end of the first round of the BMW PGA Championship. Baldwin (-7) is the first leader of the franchise tournament of the DP World Tour, while Otaegui (-2) is the best Spaniard alongside Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2). The biggest day of Baldwin’s career alongside a modest start from the Spaniards.
The leader is a 38-year-old English golfer who has played 244 tournaments on the European Circuit and who, although he won last year in South Africa, today has had his best ever day on a golf course. For being where it has been, in Wentworth, the cathedral, his home, and in the tournament that was due. It’s never too late to make a dream come true. His entire family and a good handful of friends have vibrated with him on the West course of the London club.
Baldwin had played this tournament five times in the past, four in a row between 2013 and 2016, missing all the cuts and never being able to go below 70 strokes, and once more last year, on his return to the elite after a lady’s journey through the desert that took him to even play the Gecko Tour, a winter circuit of the Costa del Sol. Precisely, in 2023 he finally made the cut and also had a treat on Thursday. He started with 67 strokes and placed fourth. This time he has improved. He made 65.
If we pull from the EGB notes, we could say that Baldwin is progressing adequately in Wentworth, while others, the Armada to be more precise, need to improve. It hasn’t been a horrible start, but they are all between a third line and further back. The two best are Adrián Otaegui (-2), who finished on the 18th with an exceptional eagle of those that cheer up the dinner, the light sleep and even the deep one, and Rafa Cabrera Bello (-2), who was pointing to the top 10 of the tournament until two consecutive bogeys on the 15th and 16th, the second with a very short missed putt of those that hurt, stopped him in his tracks. In his favour, we must put the 17th hole he has played after the blow, extraordinary, hunting the green in two and putting for eagle from less than eight metres.
Also under par are Pablo Larrazábal (-1) and Ángel Hidalgo (-1). Both are the living image of the Spaniards’ day. A constant give and take. Exchange of blows. I give, you give. I hit, I fit. Thus, the good thing is that you don’t end up falling too much. The bad thing is that you don’t get up there at all. At par are Nacho Elvira and Alejandro del Rey, more of the same, and over par are Jorge Campillo (+1), Santi Tarrio (+1) and Adri Arnaus (+2). It’s a textbook needs to improve. Is it horrible? Not at all. Everyone is in the tournament and with options to pass a cut that has provisionally been set at -1.
Baldwin has a one-stroke lead over Niklas Norgaard (-6) and Thomas Detry (-6) and two behind are Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Victor Perez, Ugo Coussaud, Shane Lowry, Matteo Manassero, Marcus Armitage, Billy Horschel, Andy Sullivan and Jeong Weon Ko. By the way, the latter along with Baldwin are the only ones who have handed in cards without bogeys.
On the negative side, the start of Francesco Molinari (+7) stands out, master and lord in the past of this West course of Wentworth, of those who have played here the best, although it has been a while since he regularly finds his best version. Bad start also for Peter Malnati (+4), PGA Tour golfer who is playing his first DP World Tour tournament.
