The flagship tournament should be the place for the European Tour to flex its muscles, and it’s the strength in depth of the tour that most impressed on the opening day of the 2015 BMW PGA Championship.
Instead of the Gleneagles Ryder Cup heroes it was those of European team calibre and experience who missed out on last September’s battle with the USA who impressed.
Francesco Molinari, twice capped but out of the world’s top 60 of late, leads on seven-under, while Robert Karlsson, part of maybe the best-ever European team at the K Club in 2006, is two behind.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, a star on and off course in various Ryder Cups, is well-placed while Medinah hero Nicolas Colsaerts, becalmed of late, shot a three-under 69 alongside the best of the Gleneagles men, Thomas Bjorn.
Rory McIlroy is back on one-under, with Justin Rose and Victor Dubuisson, while Jamie Donaldson is on two-under. But there are possible future European team players making their bid.
Scotland’s Marc Warren, increasingly spoken of by good judges as a strong candidate to play at Hazeltine next year, shot a four-under 68 to put himself in good position for a strike at the weekend, going one better than his play-off loss here in 2013.
“I still feel I didn’t do anything wrong that year,” he said. “Losing a playoff, there wasn’t much else I could have done.
“If I felt I made a mistake, I’d get frustrated, but there’s definitely no disappointment.
“Justin Rose called it a bucket list tournament and it’s definitely one of those where when you come so close, it gets you fired up whenever you come back.”
Warren’s always been comfortable with the necessity of shaping shots around the trees and although the greens were “softer than I’ve ever seen here” they worked for him the couple of times he short-sided himself on the back nine but was able to get up and down.
“I think the last couple of years have gone really well for me,”he continued. “I’ve got myself up the rankings a little bit, close to Top 50 in the world, my best finish in Race to Dubai last year and carried on from my best year. I feel really comfortable when I see my name on the leaderboard now.
“One of the things I’ve got going for me right now is I don’t expect too much of myself. I just try and let the hard work come to the fore.”
Molinari came home in five-under 32, when, as for Warren, the greens were not remotely at their best. He has finished in the top 10 at Wentworth in the last three years, and needs a strong week to get back in the world’s top 60 and secure his exemption for the US Open and the Open at St Andrews.
“I know that the deadlines for the U.S. Open and The Open are close,” he said. “All season, I’ve been pretty much just outside the Top 50, knowing that a good week would get me in again.
“I’d been to, I don’t know how many majors in a row before I missed the Masters. That was not a nice feeling, and I want to get back in there again.”
Karlsson has struggled with various parts of his game in recent years and isn’t quite convinced yesterday’s 67 is evidence that all has come togetherat last, but the Swede can play the West Course alright, having shot 62 here once.
McIlroy is six shots behind he made up seven in the final round alone last year, so no need for panic and admitted to some mental fatigue from his busy schedule.
“Physically I feel fine, I got back to my room last night in the hotel at 4.30 in the afternoon and didn’t leave it until 6.30 this morning, so there’s 14 hours of sort of rest,” he said after his fairly mundane 71.
“But mentally, I could feel myself getting a bit down on myself out there and that’s something I haven’t been doing over the past few weeks. I just need to be aware of that and be conscious that I just need to try to keep everything on an even keel out there.
“Every time I’ve played well this year, I’ve been talking about how mentally good I’ve been in terms of acceptance and patience, and I feel like my patience was sort of wearing thin out there today.”