McIlroy and Rahm come up one shot short

Spain’s Jon Rahm shot an early round of 62 in the final round of the BMW PGA Championship at the Wentworth Club, Virginia Water, Surrey in England (8-11 September 2022) to surge to the top of the leaderboard at 16-under par.  There was only a handful of players who could topple the big name from snatching the trophy among them Northern Ireland’s great golfer Rory McIlroy and the winner of the 2019 Open Championship from the Republic of Ireland, Shane Lowry.  Smiles all round.  It was to be Shane Lowry’s day.

 

Rory’s FedEx victory

 

McIlroy has had another blistering season in 2022.  At the end of August, he scooped the 18 million dollar jackpot by winning his third FedEx Cup by over-turning a thrilling six shot deficit at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.  The Northern Irishman toppled the leader, World Number One golfer from the US Scottie Scheffler by one tiny shot.  But how would Rory McIlroy handle the fairways in Surrey with the tournament reduced to 54 holes due to the tragic loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the opening day?

 

 

Lowry the burly, bearded wonder

 

Shane Lowry was looming large on Sunday too.  The burly, bearded 35-year old player from Clara needed just one stroke to catch Jon Rahm.  And behind Lowry, McIlroy was also in contention.  Every shot was hypnotic.  Every shot nudged a little bit closer to seeing who would become the 2022 BMW PGA Champion at Wentworth.  And without a single bogey on his card, Lowry was looking a serious threat to Jon Rahm.

 

Indeed, Shane Lowry hit one of the best shots of his career down the 18th.  A 5-iron covered the 217 yards to the green giving him a good chance of an eagle to take the outright lead.  A birdie followed which launched him one ahead of the leader Rahm on 17-under par.

 

 

All that remained was to see how Rory McIlroy tackled the final hole behind him.  Could he make eagle to equal Lowry’s score and force a play-off?

 

Well, actually his 23-foot eagle putt on the 18th just hovered over the hole which meant he had to settle for a share of second place with Jon Rahm on 16-under par.

 

The defending champion from 2021 was America’s Billy Horschel.  He played a good tournament at Virginia Water to finish in a share of 9th with scores of 68, 68 and 67.

 

So how did the Dutch players fare?

 

Six times winner on the European Tour, 36-year old Joost Luiten and fellow countryman Wil Besseling were on good form at Wentworth.  OK, it was not a win for either of the Dutchmen but placements of tie 23rd for Luiten on 208 (8-under par) along with Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and tie 35th for Besseling, two strokes behind, give a hint of hope for the future.

 

 

The BMW PGA Championship produced another great event for the European Tour with a formidable eight different nationalities in the final top-10.  The 2022 PGA Champion, Shane Lowry is simply smiling from cheek to cheek.  He has had a super season so far this year and the West Course at Wentworth always seems to bring out the best in his game.  When you take into account his prize cheque for more than 1.3 million euros, Lowry shot three rounds of 66, 68 and 65 to scoop his winner’s prize at Wentworth.  Yes, happy days are here again for Shane Lowry!

 

Wendy Hoad

 

 

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:  The delighted new BMW PGA Champion from Ireland, Shane Lowry.  CENTRE: Rory McIlroy and Rafa Cabrera Bello.  BELOW: Shane Lowry during the trophy presentation at Wentworth.