Chris Wood enjoyed the biggest win of his seven-year professional career when capturing the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Club by one shot.
The 28 year old from Bristol stormed into the lead on Sunday afternoon by matching Danny Willett’s tournament-record front-nine 29 from Friday, and at that stage led by four from clubhouse leader Rikard Karlberg, who had burst through the field with a 65 to reach eight under par.
A wayward tee shot on the tenth saw Wood drop his first shot of the day, and although he bounced back with a birdie on the 11th, he was loose off the tee again at the 12th and registered three bogeys in four holes from the 14th.
That left him just one ahead of Swede Karlberg on the 18th tee, but Wood completed a par five with ease to card a closing 69 and nine under par total.
Speaking after his securing his third European Tour title, a relieved Wood said:
“It’s hard to win, as I’ve proved. I did not look at a leaderboard all day, but when you are making lots of birdies on a tricky day you know you are there or thereabouts. On the 18th I had 196 yards to the front and I immediately thought six iron, but my caddie said ‘Do you want to know the situation?’
“I said I’ll put it in your hands and he said ‘I’d like you to lay up’. It seems silly hitting sand wedge, sand wedge into 18, but as soon as he told me to lay up, I knew probably five was enough.”
Karlberg finished second after an exceptional round that featured an ace on the second, while Masters Tchampion Willett, who had been 12 under for the week through 27 holes, shot a closing 71 to finish third on seven under.
In testing conditions, plenty of players found themselves contesting the title only to fall away. Overnight leader Scott Hend double bogeyed the opening hole and went to the turn in 41, Martin Kaymer eagled the fourth to get into contention only to slip out of the frame after a double bogey two holes later following a poor drive, and Tyrrell Hatton, who was one behind overnight and playing with Hend in the final group, dropped three shots in as many holes around the turn.
Victory for Wood was redemption for his final round collapse in 2010, when he lead by two shots with 18 holes to play, only to shoot a 77. ““I’m a better golfer now; I’ve developed,” Wood said. “To finally win this tournament just feels amazing.”
Victory catapulted Wood into the world’s top 25, and has also moved him a long way up THE points table for Ryder Cup qualification. “To play the way I did today is really encouraging,” Wood added. “I knew events like this were key to making the Ryder Cup team. It’s a huge step towards that.”
Despite the absence of Rory McIlroy and the injured Justin Rose, the tournament still attracted over 100,000 spectators during the week, with over 5,000 people staying behind after play on Saturday to watch a concert given by Mike and the Mechanics.
Speaking after close of play on Sunday, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley insisted that Wentworth ‘would host this event for a long period of time’, although there remains the possibility that BMW will opt not to extend its sponsorship of this championship when the existing deal expires in 2018.
Pelley also hinted that the Irish Open might be moved to a later date to create a ‘links swing’ of tournaments in Ireland and Scotland in the run up to the Open Championship.