– This week, the BMW PGA Championship takes place at Wentworth, about 35 kilometres west of London, a prestigious tournament on the DP World Tour, and also the Procore Championship at the Silverado Resort, located six kilometres north of downtown Napa, California, marking the restart of competition on the PGA Tour.
– As is well known, the members of the two teams that will face each other in the upcoming 45th edition of the Ryder Cup at Bethpage will be almost entirely present at both events. The Americans will be in Napa, with the absence of Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele; and the Europeans will be in Wentworth, with the only absence being Sepp Straka.
– Around 8,600 kilometres separate the two squads, but in some way, both tournaments also serve as the starting gun for that Ryder that will bring them all together in two weeks. Granted: few definitive conclusions can be drawn about the form of each team, but there will always be details and nuances to consider. Moreover, in fact, BMW and Procore are already the first ‘official’ meeting of the two squads since they were fully formed, with the ever-present goal of building team spirit through relevant meetings, dinners, and even coinciding in the tournament matches.
– The impact of this Ryder starting gun on both tournaments has been significant. In Wentworth, a year ago, the tournament’s field rating was 197.5, while this year it has risen to 292, so last year’s winner earned 33.9 world ranking points, while this year they will earn 50.24. In the Procore, the field rating has increased from 211.9 last year to 280 this week. Last year’s winner earned 36.45 points, compared to the 48.2 they will earn this time. And the sponsors on both sides of the Atlantic are delighted, of course.
– There is, undoubtedly, special interest in seeing how the World Number One, Scottie Scheffler, resumes competition almost three weeks after his last appearance at the TOUR Championship, the final of the FedEx Cup playoffs, where the Texan finished in a notable fourth position, but showing some signs of saturation or fatigue, always analysed according to his supreme standards. Let’s not forget that the European team leader, Rory McIlroy, comes from a win in Ireland. Interestingly, Scottie and Rory have already been in two editions of the Ryder (2021 and 2023), but they have yet to face each other on the field, neither in pairs nor in singles matches. And something tells us that this peculiar coincidence will be broken at Bethpage…
– As expected, Keegan Bradley is present at the Napa event along with all his vice-captains, although he is not competing in the tournament, and similarly, Luke Donald is in Wentworth, although the Englishman will compete.
– It will be interesting to see which players from each team, both in the BMW and the Procore, can emerge as candidates for the final victory, of course. But even more important will be to see, for the sake of confidence, if any of these 21 Ryder players, for example, miss the cut. In that case, the intrigue will be served, and who knows if, in the long run, it could be an element that might influence the captains’ final decisions.
– One last curiosity. According to different weather reports 8,600 kilometres apart, Napa will have much better playing conditions than Virginia Water, where Wentworth is located. At the Silverado Resort, for example, a maximum temperature of around 26 degrees is expected, compared to 18/20 in Wentworth, but there is also a much higher chance of rain on English soil, and what is even more significant: a fundamentally windy BMW PGA is expected over the four days, especially on Friday, with gusts that could approach 50 kilometres per hour.
