BMW PGA Championship Uses Two-Tee Start for First Time Ever

The 2026 BMW PGA Championship will use a two-tee start for its first two rounds at Wentworth, a change the tournament has never made outside of weather delays. Play begins Thursday and Friday from both the 1st and 9th tees.

Why is Wentworth changing its format?

The tournament committee approved six extra spots in this year's field to give DP World Tour members more playing opportunities, and fitting the larger group into two rounds of daylight made a two-tee start necessary. Since the event moved from its former late-May date to September in 2019, daylight has already been tight for completing 18-hole rounds across the full field.

Wentworth's 10th tee sits at the farthest point of the course from the clubhouse, so officials chose the 9th tee as the second starting point instead, a simpler logistical fit than sending groups out from the 10th.

A six-player increase in the field, not the course itself, is what forced Wentworth's hand on the tee sheet.

Who is in the field this week?

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy headlines a field that includes 11 members of Team Europe's winning Ryder Cup roster from Bethpage Black. Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, last week's Amgen Irish Open winner Shane Lowry, Open champion Ryan Fox and PGA champion Aaron Rai are also entered, meaning three of the four 2026 major champions are in the field at Wentworth.