BMW PGA: Wentworth Makes A 2020-Only Fall Return, Recalling Old Match Play Days

Thanks to reader John for Simon Cambers’s New York Times look at historic Wentworth as the rescheduled BMW PGA Championship begins.

Wentworth held the Ryder Cup in 1953, but to many golf fans the club will always be remembered for hosting the World Match Play Championship, which it held from 1964 to 2007.

Staged each October, shown live on the BBC and often played in challenging autumnal conditions, each match was played over 36 holes, a test of stamina as much as skill. Though it later expanded to 16 players, it began as an eight-man knockout event, with Palmer the first champion, beating Neil Coles of England in the final.

Ernie Els, who won the event seven times and later helped to redesign the West Course, loved Wentworth long before he got to see it himself.

“The history speaks for itself, especially the World Match Play,” Els said in an interview. “All the great players played there. Growing up in South Africa, we’d read all about Gary and Jack and Arnold winning there. Then watching Greg, Seve, Faldo, [Sandy] Lyle and Woosie [Ian Woosnam] in the 1980s. It was an iconic tournament and venue.”