BMW PGA Championship Tips
Rory McIlroy heads a stellar field at Wentworth's famous West Course this week for the flagship BMW PGA Championship.
The 2014 winner and two-time runner-up is 5/1 favourite on a course which tends to bring out the best in him.
And after last week's heartache at the Irish Open, McIlroy will be doubly determined to see off the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry and land the honours.
Past champ Noren can go in again
McIlroy will be a hard man to ignore at the West Course, a lay-out he has brought to its knees before.
The Northern Irishman has had five top-tens at the Surrey course to go alongside his win a decade ago and there didn't look much wrong with his game at last week's Irish Open where he finished second by a stroke.
However, there were echoes of the US Open on Sunday when he tripped up with the title at his mercy and that's becoming a worrying component of the world No.3's make-up.
To that end, he is plenty short enough at 5/1 and preference instead is for another former winner, Alex Noren.
The Swede triumphed at Wentworth three years after McIlroy and though the enormously-talented Noren has won only one title since then, he consistently represents a danger.
Noren has had eight top-15 finishes in 2024 - third at the Byron Nelson the pick of the results - and on his last two trips to the UK was T10 at the Scottish Open and T13 at The Open at Royal Troon.
He was right in the hunt at the BMW Championship in the FedEx Cup last month before an out-of-character final-day 75 extinguished those hopes.
You need to be able to scramble around Wentworth and most winners have excelled in that department. So it helps that Noren leads scrambling on the DP World Tour this year.
Tip 1: Alexander Noren outright winner - 14/1
Wiesberger a tasty West Course option
Bernd Wiesberger's LIV experience was a major anti-climax, but back on the DP World Tour the Austrian resembles his former competitive self.
Wiesberger rejoined the tour this year and, having plunged to outside the world's top 500 in March, is now inching back towards the top 150 after a decent run which included a runner-up spot at the European Open and six more top-20 finishes.
He is a fabulous scrambler and hasn't shot worse than level-par 72 in his last 14 rounds around the West Course
Tip 2: Bernd Wiesberger outright winner each-way - 66/1
Victor's Olympic feat stands him in good stead
Victor Perez flies into England after a rest and a solid enough end of season, plus he knows his way around Wentworth.
He was second behind Tyrrell Hatton on his debut in 2020 and, while he has not done an awful lot on the track since, he remains a classy threat.
Five top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour got him into the FedEx Cup playoffs and he thrilled his home crowd in Paris when finishing fourth at the Olympics.