pga tour championship 2007

King of the Hills: Tiger Woods & the 2007 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods returned to Tulsa for the 2007 PGA Championship having played at Southern Hills twice before. And both trips were memorable, but for different reasons.

Tiger got his first look at Southern Hills during the 1996 Tour Championship. He turned pro on August 28, 1996 and amazingly vaulted his way into the top-30 money winners in less than two months. He would next play Southern Hills at the 2001 U.S. Open on the tail end of the “Tiger Slam”. While neither tournament ended in victories for Tiger, important lessons were learned.

Due to his past experiences, Tiger was able to develop a special game plan for playing Southern Hills. At the 2007 PGA Championship, Tiger executed his game plan to perfection. Strategically mapping his way around the golf course, he avoided fairway bunkers, played safely into the smallish greens, and made key putts to win by two over Woody Austin.

“If you would have asked me if, 12 years into my career, I would have this many  wins and this many majors, No Way!” Tiger shared after his win. “When you start your career, 18 is a long way away.  And even though I am at 13, it’s still a long way away.” 

Tiger got off to a fast start in round one of the 89th PGA Championship, going 3-under through six holes. Southern Hills struck back, however, and four closing bogeys resulted in a round of one-over par 71. Local favorite, John Daly, kept the fans entertained with a 3-under 67, and trailed first-round leader, Graeme Storm, by two.

“It’s awesome. It’s been a good day for my fans and me,” said Daly. “They haven’t seen a good round in a while. Even the Sooner and Cowboy fans are out here. It’s cool.” 

Seven former Oklahoma University or Oklahoma State University golfers were in the field, including Southern Hills member Bo Van Pelt. OU’s Todd Hamilton, the 2004 Open Championship winner, lead the way with a 73.

After the opening round, Tiger shared that he was hitting the ball better than he scored. He got the scoring part right in round two as he birdied the opening hole and never looked back. Seven birdies and one bogey later, Tiger stood on the 18th green with a chance to become the first player to shoot 62 in a major championship. The thousands of spectators in attendance and millions watching around the world thought Tiger had the record, but somehow, his putt did a complete 360 and spun out. A tap-in for 63 tied the course record set by Raymond Floyd at the 1982 PGA Championship and gave Tiger a two-shot lead over Scott Verplank, whose 66 was overshadowed by Wood’s heroics.

“I guess a 62 ½ is all right,” Tiger said after his round.  “I hit a good putt. And I thought I made it. It would have  been nice to have gotten a record and a three shot lead going into the weekend.”  

6⃣3⃣ A record-tying second round at the 2007 PGA Championship put @TigerWoods in the driver's seat at Southern Hills. It's almost time for the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills! 🏆 #PGAChamp | @ROLEX pic.twitter.com/2WrxSE9uMz — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 13, 2022

Saturday’s third round did not provide as much excitement as a day earlier. The top five leaders all shot one-under-par rounds of 69. Verplank, playing in the final group with Woods, fell seven shots back with a 74. The key hole was No. 12, where Tiger made birdie and Verplank made double bogey. Tiger ended the day with a three-shot lead over Trinidad & Tobago native, Stephen Ames. Woody Austin was lurking four shots behind.

Tiger arrived at the first tee on Sunday in his familiar red shirt and a 12-0 record when leading going into the final round of a major. Five hours later, in temperatures above 100 degrees, that streak became 13-0. Ames faded early, while Ernie Els applied some pressure with a 32 on the front. But Tiger responded with a curly 20-footer for birdie on 8, punctuated with a powerful fist pump. Things got interesting again on the back nine, when Woody Austin birdied holes 11-14, to climb within one of Woods.

Tiger responded again with a crucial birdie on 15 and then blasted a powerful drive, followed by a twirl of the club, on 16. Three pars later, Tiger had won his 13th major championship by two over Austin. Els was third, another shot back. Arron Oberholser finished tied for 4th.

“He knows he’s going to win,” said Oberholser of Tiger. “The scary thing is that maybe he knows that you  know he’s going to win.” 

This was Tiger's first major championship victory as a father. His daughter, Sam Alexis Woods, was born two months earlier on June 18, 2007. To top it off, his wife, Elin, was holding Sam near the 18th green as Tiger holed the final putt. Sam’s attire? Red, of course.

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Remembering Tiger Woods' 2007 PGA Championship Win At Southern Hills

How the American claimed his 13th Major and fourth PGA Championship title

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When Tiger Woods parred the final hole to claim the 2007 PGA Championship at Southern Hills , it gave him his 13th Major win in just over a decade – and one of the most eventful.

Woods’ tournament began inauspiciously. The defending champion struggled to find a rhythm throughout his first round, with four birdies overshadowed by five bogeys, meaning he finished the day six shots behind leader Graeme Storm on one-over-par. 

Improvement was needed, and it duly came in a mesmerising second round where he recorded one of the lowest scores in his career. In the baking heat (which was a feature throughout the tournament), Woods tied the record for the lowest single-round score at a Major championship. That achievement saw Woods join an exclusive list of just 21 players, but he came close to claiming the record outright. After a round including eight birdies, Woods faced a 15-foot putt on the 18th green for his ninth of the day and a place in the record books. With the crowd willing the ball in, it appeared to be dong just that, but an agonising lip-out meant Woods had to settle for 63. 

Nevertheless, Woods was happy enough with his day's work. He said: “It got me back in the tournament. It wasn’t like I was out of the tournament, but I just felt that winning score this year was going to probably be around 4-, 5-under par and to go ahead and get it in one lump sum felt pretty good.”

Indeed, that 63, which also equalled the course record, had set him up beautifully for the third round. By that point, Woods had climbed to the top of the leaderboard on six-under-par, two shots ahead of his closest contender, Scott Verplank. There were fewer fireworks from Woods on day three, but a birdie on the fourth kept him on track. Then, with a back nine featuring another birdie and one bogey, Woods’ one-under-par 69 was enough to stretch his lead to three, with Canadian Stephen Ames next on the leaderboard.

The omens were looking good going into the final round, as Woods had enjoyed at least a share of the 54-hole lead in his previous 12 Major wins. His final round was not without drama, though. Woods bogeyed the second before hitting his stride with birdies on the fourth, seventh and eighth. However, Woody Austin soon made moves of his own and birdied holes 11 through 13 to move into contention. When Woods three-putted the 14th for a bogey, it reduced his lead to just one.

Still, Austin’s glimpse of a first Major win was short-lived as Woods bounced back with a birdie on the next hole to restore a two-shot lead that he wouldn’t relinquish. The pair parred the remaining holes to hand Woods back-to-back PGA Championship victories and the Wanamaker Trophy for the fourth time.

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Reflecting on the moment he regained momentum to claim the title, Woods said: “I just did serious yelling at myself going up to the 15th tee, just to get back into what I do. And positioned the golf ball, put it where I need to put it and just bear down, get it down somehow. And I made that putt on there on 15, it felt great. Felt like I had the momentum again, and I was back in control of the tournament.”

Woods won the US Open the following year, but then had to wait 11 more years to claim his 15th Major with the 2019 Masters . For that four days at Southern Hills in 2007, though, the American was still more-or-less at the peak of his powers, and that magical 63 on the Friday will surely forever rank as one of his greatest rounds of all. 

Things You Didn't Know About Tiger Woods

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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First as a father: papa tiger woods got the better of the oppressive heat, southern hills to win 2007 pga championship, share this article.

It’s a topic worthy of debate on the 19th hole.

So order a beverage or two and dive into the storied career in major championships of one Tiger Woods. Tee up the question and have at it: rank in order of significance the victories Tiger Woods has collected in the majors?

What would top your list?

His transformative, earth-shattering, record-smashing win in the 1997 Masters , when he became the first player of color to win a green jacket?

His tour de force at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open, a performance Phil Mickelson said was the greatest golf ever played?

His masterful waltz on the ancient ground of St. Andrews to win the 2000 Open Championship at the Home of Golf to become the youngest at age 24 to complete the career Grand Slam?

His down-to-the-wire victory in the 2001 Masters to become the first to win four consecutive professional majors, aka, the Tiger Slam?

His playoff win in the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg and trashed knee ligaments?

His win in the 2019 Masters following spinal fusion surgery?

That’s just six of his 15 major championships, and one wouldn’t be shunned from the 19th hole argument adding another to the list.

In fact, Woods himself would like to add one – the 2007 PGA Championship at sweltering Southern Hills Country Club in the Sooner State city of Tulsa.

In winning his fourth Wanamaker Trophy by two shots for his 13th victory in a major – at the time his winning clip in the game’s four most sacred championships was 27 percent – Woods achieved a personal milestone.

Coming a year after he won his first major at the 2006 Open Championship without his father by his side (Earl Woods had passed in May of that year), Woods won his first major as a father, as his daughter, Sam, was born in June of 2007.

The tiny Sam was with her mother and Woods’ former wife, Elin, in the scoring tent when daddy polished off his victory at Southern Hills.

Southern Hills:  Yardage book  |  Restored to greatness  |  ESPN+ streaming | How to watch info

“It’s a feeling I’ve never had before, having Sam there and having Elin there. It feels a lot more special when you have your family there,” Woods said afterward. “And it used to be my mom and dad. And now Elin and now we have our own daughter. It’s evolved.

“This one feels so much more special than the other majors. The British Open last year was different, but this one was certainly so special and so right to have Elin and Sam there.”

Survival of the fittest

Woods and his battered 46-year-old body have made a remarkable return to the game following a horrifying, high-speed, single-car crash north of Los Angeles in February 2021 that nearly cost him his life and almost led to amputation of his severely injured right leg, ankle and foot.

The winner of a record-tying 82 PGA Tour titles played the 2022 Masters in April, his first start in an official event in more than 500 days. After a stunning 71 in the first round that placed him on the first page of the leaderboard, Woods and his stamina gave way to the mountainous nature of Augusta National Golf Club as he wound up in a tie for 47th.

Following his final round, Woods said he would play in the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship in July at St. Andrews, where he has won the Claret Jug on two occasions. As for an appearance at Southern Hills on the 15th anniversary of his last win in the PGA Championship, Woods said he would try his hardest to make it to Tulsa.

The first time he played Southern Hills as a pro came in the 1996 Tour Championship; he finished in a tie for 21st, 20 shots behind winner Tom Lehman.

The second time came in 2001 when the U.S. Open descended on Tulsa. Woods was the overwhelming favorite, having won the previous four major championships. But an opening 74 knocked him eight shots out of the lead and he eventually tied for 12th, seven shots back.

The third time proved charming. He was the undisputed world No. 1 when he headed to Tulsa in 2007. He had four victories under his golf belt that year, including an 8-stroke romp the previous week at Firestone Country Club in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, and had finished runner-up in two of the first three majors.

Tiger Woods celebrates after winning the 89th PGA Championship at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., Sunday, Aug. 12, 2007. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Woods would be making his 50th start in a major championship, counting his amateur appearances. And Sam, his infant daughter, was in the world.

Woods had another slice of mojo to call on– August in Oklahoma is not for the timid. Upon arrival, the participants knew it was going to be a long, hot week at the 89th playing of the PGA Championship, and the forecast did not wane as temperatures hovered above triple digits the entire week.

It would be a survival of the fittest – and no golfer was in better physical condition than Woods, who was 31 at the time.

So, all was good – until the first round started. In an uncharacteristic, sloppy round, Woods made five bogeys and four birdies and signed for a 1-over-par 71. While that placed him six shots out of the lead set by Graeme Storm, and four shots behind John Daly, who spent most of his week at a nearby Cherokee casino, Woods knew there were 54 holes to play. In other words, time was on his side. And as it turned out, Woods tightened up his game and only made five more bogeys the rest of the tournament.

One of those came in the second round, but it didn’t much matter. Woods bounced back with a sizzling 63, which tied the course record set by Raymond Floyd in the 1982 PGA Championship. The 63 tied the lowest single-round score – at the time – in major championship history. He would have put his signature to a record-setting 62 if not for a cruel lip out on the 18th green on his 15-footer for birdie.

“It got me back in the tournament,” Woods said of the second round. “It wasn’t like I was out of the tournament, but I just felt that winning score this year was going to probably be around 4-, 5-under par and to go ahead and get it in one lump sum felt pretty good.”

The round took him from a 5-shot deficit to a 2-shot lead through 36 holes.

Arron Oberholser, who would finish fourth that year, said Woods just plodded along with “such horrifying precision.”

“The rest of us are made to fire at flag sticks in cases where normally we wouldn’t and therefore we make mistakes,” Oberholser said. “He’s the greatest in the world for a reason. He definitely is the greatest I’ve ever seen play without a doubt.”

Woods tacked on a 69 in the third round to increase his advantage to three shots.

“I accomplished my goal today,” Woods said. “My goal was to shoot under par and increase my lead. And I was able to do that today. So positive day all around.

“Only made one bogey today, which was good. And really kept myself out of trouble most of the day. Just try to keep hitting fairways and put the ball in the center of the greens and lag putt well. Try not to leave myself a second putt. The greens aren’t very smooth out there.”

Woods would be paired with Stephen Ames in the final round.

“It’s tough to play with Tiger, no doubt about it,” Ames said. “He’s relentless, constantly making great shots, making great putts.”

So how to do you beat him?

“I don’t know,” Ames added.

‘I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that’

Woods took to the first tee that is perched high above the fairway and offers a nice view of Tulsa’s skyline in the distance for the final round knowing he had never relinquished at least a share of the 54-hole lead in any of his previous major wins.

He wouldn’t on this day, either. Woods kept up his “horrifying precision” to stay ahead of the pack heading into the inward nine.

Then things got interesting. Woody Austin, seeking his first major, and multiple major champion Ernie Els turned up the dial on the pressure. Woods, who led by five shots through eight holes, bogeyed the 14th and suddenly saw his lead fall to one shot over Austin, who had birdied the 11th, 12th and 13th, and Els, who had birdied the 13th and 14th.

But Mother Nature’s hot hand and the pressure cooker of a Sunday final round did not get to Woods, who bounced back from his bogey with a birdie on 15.

“I got off to a good start. And I was 2 under there through eight holes. Felt like I was in control of the tournament,” Woods said. “I knew that Woody was playing well, and Ernie was making a run. But 14 was a little mishap there. Three-putted that one and I felt like I gave all the momentum back to Ernie and to Woody.

“And just felt like, ‘you know what, I got myself in this mess, I need to go get myself out of it.’ And I just did serious yelling at myself going up to the 15th tee, just to get back into what I do. And I made that putt on there on 15, it felt great. Felt like I had the momentum again, and I was back in control of the tournament. And if I parred in I felt I would win the tournament. It turned out to be the case.”

Woods closed with three pars and put his signature to a 69 to finish at 8 under, two shots clear of Austin and three clear of Els.

“I think it’s great that Ernie and I didn’t let him just coast in,” Austin said. “I beat him today, but it doesn’t matter because he had four shots on me. He happens to be the best player in the world, but if you put any great player, any good player with a four-shot cushion, their odds are going to be pretty good. Especially when they happen to be the best.”

It was the second time Woods successfully defended a PGA Championship title – he did so previously when he won at Medinah Country Club in 1999 and Valhalla Golf Club in 2000. He won again at Medinah in 2006 to set up his defense at Southern Hills.

With his 13th major title, Woods tied the career total of Bobby Jones and took one more step toward catching Jack Nicklaus and his record-setting haul of 18.

“If you would ask me that 12 years into my career would I have had this many wins and this many majors, there’s no way,” Woods said. “I’ve exceeded my own expectations and I’m certainly not against that.”

Chasing Jack

The following year, Woods took another major step toward Nicklaus when he won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego in a playoff against Rocco Mediate to reach major No. 14.

Two days later he had surgery to repair his left leg and knee and he missed the final two majors of the 2008 season.

In 2009, he won seven times worldwide, but did not add to his major haul. He tied for sixth in the first two majors and missed the cut in the Open Championship. But he seemed back to his best form when he took a 4-stroke lead through 36 holes and a 2-stroke lead through 54 holes in the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine National in Minnesota.

But Y.E. Yang shattered Woods’ cloak of armor by becoming the first to overcome a deficit in the final round to topple the man who was 14-for-14 in a major heading into the last 18 with at least a share of the lead.

Woods wouldn’t win another major for nearly 10 years.

Personal scandal and an assortment of injuries, the majority to his ailing back, kept Woods off the course and from advancing toward Nicklaus. Woods didn’t disappear – he won 10 times from the end of 2009 through 2018, becoming No. 1 in the world again in 2013. But with his deteriorating back and thinking his career was over, Woods had a Hail Mary operation in 2017 – spinal fusion surgery.

He built his body and swing back and became a major again. He won The Tour Championship in 2018 and also made his presence known in majors with a tie for sixth in the Open Championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish to Brooks Koepka in the 2018 PGA Championship.

That set up his stunning victory in the 2019 Masters to get to major No. 15. He won his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title six months later in the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Nagging injuries and COVID-19 threw Woods off-kilter in 2020 and then the car crash in 2021 sent him to recovery once again. For three months he was bed-ridden. Then he slowly started to build back his body, and then his golf game, and returned at the Masters. There is hope again for his future in the game.

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Relive Tiger Woods' 2007 PGA Championship, the 13th of his 14 major wins

Tiger woods outlasted woody austin and ernie els in the heat of oklahoma.

The heat the players will face in Missouri this week for the PGA Championship don't compare to the triple-digit temperatures from the 2007 edition at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Tiger Woods was six strokes off the lead after the opening round, but took control of the tournament with a 63 on Friday to move into first place with a two-stroke lead. Back-to-back 69s on Saturday and Sunday were enough to hold that lead against the likes of Woody Austin and Ernie Els. 

Taking control of a leaderboard early and holding off the competition on the weekend made it a signature Woods' win, one that improved his record of holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead in major championships to 13-0. 

Woods' 14th major win would come less than a year later at the U.S. Open, beating Rocco Mediate in an epic Monday finish. After getting himself into contention on a Sunday at Carnoustie, Woods enters this week at Bellerive aiming for a fifth PGA Championship victory and major win No. 15.

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Continuing Coverage

Looking back at the winningest players in PGA Championship history

These players have stepped up on the pga championship stage, by max molski • published may 14, 2024 • updated on may 14, 2024 at 10:36 am.

The PGA Championship has long been a tournament for golf legends to embrace the big stage.

While there’s no green jacket or Claret Jug up for grabs, the major is annually one of the marquee events on the PGA Tour . From Jack to Tiger, it’s taken some top-tier performances from the sport’s greatest players to earn the PGA Championship crown.

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Who has won the most PGA Championships, and who will enter this year’s tournament as the reigning champion?

Here’s a look back at PGA Championship winners ahead of the 2024 edition at Valhalla:

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Which golfer has won the most PGA Championships?

Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus are the winningest players in PGA Championship history with five titles apiece.

Hagen got his first win in 1921 and went on to rattle off four straight tournaments from 1924 to 1927. His victories all came during the PGA Championship’s match play era, which ran from 1916 to 1957 before it turned into a stroke play tournament.

Nicklaus’ success was more spread out, as his triumphs came in 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975 and 1980.

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Where is the PGA Championship? Here's a look at this year's host course and future locations

How many pga championships has tiger woods won.

Tiger Woods has four PGA Championship wins, trailing only Hagen and Nicklaus all-time. 

Woods went back-to-back at the PGA Championship on separate occasions. His first two came in 1999 and 2000, and he pulled off a repeat once again with titles in 2006 and 2007.

Who is the oldest PGA Championship winner?

Phil Mickelson became the oldest winner in PGA Championship history when he won the 2021 tournament at 50 years old.

Who is the youngest PGA Championship winner?

The record for youngest PGA Championship winner has stood for more than 100 years, as Gene Sarazen made history with his 1922 victory when he was just 20 years old.

What’s the lowest total score in PGA Championship history?

Brooks Koepka made history when he won the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club in Missouri. He shot a total score of 264 at the par-70 course, putting him at 16-under for the tournament.

While Koepka won with the fewest strokes, Jason Day had the best under-par score in PGA Championship history when he went 20-under at the par-72 Whistling Straits in 2015.

What’s the lowest single-round score in PGA Championship history?

There have been 18 rounds where a golfer has shot a 63 at the PGA Championship.

Recent PGA Championship winners

Here is a look at the last 10 PGA Championship winners:

• 2023 : Brooks Koepka, Oak Hill C.C., -9
• 2022: Justin Thomas, Southern Hills C.C., -5
• 2021: Phil Mickelson, Kiawah Island, -6
• 2020: Collin Morikawa, TPC Harding Park, -13
• 2019: Brooks Koepka, Bethpage Black, -8
• 2018: Brooks Koepka, Bellerive C.C., -16
• 2017: Justin Thomas, Quail Hollow C.C., -8
• 2016: Jimmy Walker, Baltusrol G.C. (Lower), -14
• 2015: Jason Day, Whistling Straits (Straits), -20
• 2014: Rory McIlroy, Valhalla G.C., -16

The full list of PGA Championship winners can be found here .

This article tagged under:

BMW PGA Championship history, results and past winners

The BMW PGA Championship is the DP World Tour's flagship event, with the tournament having been played back into the 1950s.

The event is now in September, after the conclusion of the PGA Tour season, and still played at Wentworth Club, which is home of the DP World Tour in England.

Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie have all won this event three times.

BMW PGA Championship format

The BMW PGA Championship is played over four days, and there is a cut for the qualifying field.

The open field of 144 players is reduced to the top 65 and ties for the final two rounds of the event. At the end of the 72-hole event, the lowest score wins.

BMW PGA Championship host courses

Wentworth has been the home of the event going back into the early 1980s, though the event moved around in the earlier years of the championship, from 1955-1983. From 1984 onward, Wentworth has been the host course.

BMW PGA Championship venues

• 1984-present: Wentworth Club

Multiple other storied venues have hosted the championship.

BMW PGA Championship past sponsors

BMW PGA Championship has had one sponsor and tournament name over the years:

• 1955-1960: PGA Close Championship
• 1961-1966: Schweppes PGA Close Championship
• 1967: PGA Close Championship
• 1968: Picadilly PGA Close Championship
• 1969-1971: Schweppes PGA Championship
• 1972-1974: Vivella PGA Championship
• 1975-1977: Penfold PGA Championship
• 1978-1979: Colgate PGA Championship
• 1980-1983: Sun Alliance PGA Championship
• 1984-1987: Whyte & Mackay PGA Championship
• 1988-2004: Volvo PGA Championship
• 2005-2006: BMW Championship
• 2007-present: BMW PGA Championship

BMW PGA Championship history & results

About the author.

Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is founder and editor of Golf News Net. He has been writing and broadcasting about golf for nearly 20 years. Ballengee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family. He is currently a +2.6 USGA handicap, and he has covered dozens of major championships and professional golf tournaments. He likes writing about golf and making it more accessible by answering the complex questions fans have about the pro game or who want to understand how to play golf better.

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BMW PGA Championship betting tips: McIlroy eyes bounce back performance

Read our latest golf betting tips for the bmw pga championship which gets underway at wentworth on thursday, article bookmarked.

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• Rory McIlroy to win - 5/1 bet365
• Justin Rose to finish in the top 5 - 15/2 SpreadEx

Rory McIlroy will be desperate to put the disappointment of the Irish Open behind him when he leads the field in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, which gets underway on Thursday (from 8.30 am Thursday, Sky Sports Golf).

The current world number three looked on course for victory at Royal County Down last weekend when leading by four shots at one point in Sunday’s final round. However, mistakes on 15 and 17 from the home favourite proved costly and allowed the fast-finishing Rasmus Hojgaard to snatch the title by one-shot .

McIlroy now joins the rest of the DP World Tour regulars in heading to Wentworth, where 12 months ago New Zealand’s Ryan Fox birdied the last to take the title in dramatic fashion. He edged out England’s Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai on that occasion and two of those three will be in the mix this time around.

Last year, all 12 of Luke Donald’s Ryder Cup team arrived at Wentworth to fine-tune their preparations ahead of the biennial competition in Rome against the Americans.

Nine of those victorious European Ryder Cup players will play this week. Ludvig Aberg is missing due to injury, while LIV defectors Jon Rahm and Hatton, who won the tournament in 2020, will be competing in Dallas at the LIV Golf Team Championship season finale.

Former winners McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Billy Horschel, and Danny Willett will be looking to add a second title, while Ryan Fox is seeking to become the first person since Donald in 2012 to defend the title.

Fox is an 80/1 outsider to repeat with betting sites , who, unsurprisingly, have placed McIlroy at the head of the market. The Northern Irishman will tee off as the heavy favourite at 6/1, with Tommy Fleetwood next in the betting at 11/1.

BMW PGA Championship betting preview: McIlroy a strong bounce back candidate

McIlroy admitted after his latest near miss at the Irish Open that he’s got used to being the nearly man this year. The 25-year-old has gone close on several occasions, most memorably at the US Open and the Olympics, and faces a test of his mettle at Wentworth this week.

Whether he can bounce back so quickly remains to be seen, but in January he let slip the Dubai Invitational, only to capture his fourth Dubai Desert Classic title next time out. And of course, he won the 2011 US Open after his meltdown in the Masters just two months earlier.

This year hasn’t been a total hard luck story for McIlroy, who has three wins to his name across the PGA and DP World tours and he has gone well at Wentworth recently.

The four-time major winner won the BMW PGA Championship in 2014 and has five other top-10 finishes to his name at Wentworth, including finishing tied for second in 2022 and seventh last year.

Golf betting sites aren’t keen to take on McIlroy, judging by his ante-post price, and they might be right to be wary of a determined McIlroy this week.

BMW PGA Championship prediction 1: Rory McIlroy to win - 5/1 bet365

BMW PGA Championship prediction: Rose can bloom on home soil

An Englishman has finished either first or second in four of the last five BMW PGA Championships so we’re expecting a decent showing from the home contingent at the DP World Tour’s headquarters.

Justin Rose could be one those to go well, despite him describing his form this year as “mixed”. However, he impressed at two of the four majors, including a tied-second finish at The Open at Royal Troon. This will be Rose’s first start on European soil since that tournament in July.

Rose has said the BMW PGA Championship is the one tournament he’d like to win, outside of the majors, and he’s gone close in the past, finishing as runner-up twice in 2007 and 2012.

He’s 30/1 on betting apps to go one better this time around, but we’re taking a slightly more cautious approach by backing him for a top-five finish. He’s finished in the top five in five of his 18 previous appearances and may improve upon that record this week.

BMW PGA Championship tips: Justin Rose to finish in the top 5 - 15/2 SpreadEx

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09 - 12 Aug 2007

US PGA Championship

Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

DP World Tour Partners

Woody Austin remembers magical 2007 win at TPC Southwind

Woody Austin during the final round at TPC Southwind. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)

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Editor’s Note: Woody Austin joined the PGA TOUR in 1995 after a full year playing on the Korn Ferry Tour followed by a dominating performance at the 1994 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, where he rolled to a six-round, four-shot triumph. During his TOUR career, Austin played in 545 tournaments, amassing 52 top-10s, four wins and a 2007 U.S. Presidents Cup team appearance. After turning 50, in 2014, Austin joined PGA TOUR Champions and matched his four-win PGA TOUR total. When Austin won the St. Jude Classic in 2007, it was still a regular season tournament that has since become a Playoffs event—the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Seventeen years since winning at TPC Southwind, Austin reflected on a week that he punctuated with a stellar round of golf.

In 2017, I shot a 59 at the Diamond Resorts Invitational, a tournament in Orlando, Florida, that featured PGA TOUR Champions and LPGA players playing a Modified Stableford format. That 59 was pretty good. But if I’m being honest, there was a round I played, where I turned in a score three strokes higher that was actually better than the 59.

I feel that way because under the circumstances, in the environment I was in at the 2007 FedEx St. Jude Championship—and the difficulty of TPC Southwind, outside Memphis, Tennessee—that my final-round score is my best.

At that point in my career, I had previously won two PGA TOUR tournaments—the 1995 Buick Open and the 2004 Buick Championship (now the Travelers Championship). The 2007 season was the first for the FedExCup, and I was coming off a year where I finished 78th on the money list. But 2007 had not started well, and leading into Memphis, I was struggling. I had made nine of 14 cuts, but my best finish was only a tie for 18th, at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. I had also missed two of three cuts prior to my arrival at TPC Southwind.

That set the stage for what started out as just another week on the PGA TOUR. It didn’t quite end that way.

Nothing I did in the opening round suggested good things in my future, however. I shot a 2-over 72 in the first round and needed a birdie on my final hole just to shoot that. It wasn’t only me struggling, though, which speaks to the test TPC Southwind provided. The first-round stroke average was 74.188 on the par-70 course. So even sitting at 2-over, I was only five shots behind the leaders, Freddie Jacobson and Adam Scott.

In the second round, I made my move, improving my score by six strokes. That placed me into a tie for fifth, with five other players. But we were all chasing Scott. He led by one at the halfway mark, and he was also getting the majority of the attention as the fourth-ranked player in the world.

I was No. 173.

A third-round 67 allowed me to make up some ground. Adam was still leading, ahead of Brian Gay and David Toms, by three strokes with 18 holes to play. I was four behind. The fact Scott opened 67-66-68 and seemed in full control of his game led me to believe I would have to shoot something pretty low on Sunday if I wanted to even think about winning.

Sunday, I did my part early, making a birdie on No. 2 and an eagle at the par-5 third, a perfect sand-wedge approach that I spun right into the hole from the fairway. At 3-under through three, I knew I was hitting a lot of good shots, and I was getting myself involved in the chase. After that start, my caddie, Brent Henley, said, “Don’t you dare look at a board. I don’t want you scoreboard-watching.”

In 2007, scoreboards, like today, were pretty ubiquitous, so I don’t know how people don’t look at the scoreboard. And I like to look—even when I’m in 100th place. I like to see how things are going and how people are playing. Brent felt like it would be a distraction to me, and he didn’t want me to get ahead of myself.

Brent was funny about it. Every time we came in view of a scoreboard, he would walk up to me and basically get in there between the scoreboard and me, so I couldn’t see anything. He thought he wasn’t being obvious about what he was doing, but we had been together for four years. I knew what he was up to.

I did as he told me, avoiding an occasional look, but after my fast start, I cooled off. Maybe I did get ahead of myself with my thinking as seven consecutive pars followed. Stuck in neutral, I assumed my deficit was probably about where it was at the start of the round.

The reality is Scott and I were tied, and Brent felt it was his job to ensure I didn’t know that.

I finally made my next birdie, this time at No. 10, but even at 4-under through 10, I didn’t think much of that, knowing that Nos. 2 and 3 are both birdie-able holes, which I assumed all the contenders had handled.

Then No. 12 changed everything.

After parring the 11th, I hit my approach into the par-4 12th, and I was just off the green. The bugaboo in my game has always been putting if I’m not hitting it close. For most of the front nine, I wasn’t hitting my approaches close enough, and that mean a bunch of pars. At the 12th, I wasn’t even on the green for my birdie chance. That’s when I thought that was probably a better position because I had a great lie and was no more than 20 feet from the cup. It was green light the whole way, and I hit a perfect little chip that rolled in for birdie.

OK, now I have momentum, and I know I’m in the golf tournament. After a par at 13, what I was about to do was hit the best 5-iron I’ve ever hit, and I can say that and mean it because the shot is still so vivid to me 17 years later.

At TPC Southwind, there is water trouble all over that par-3. For some reason, the rules officials changed the traditional pin placement that day. Usually, the rules guys stuck the hole in the back-right corner. But for this final round, they cut the pin on the front-right, next to the water.

My tee shot was stone dead from the tee. It never left the flag, and from where I was standing, the ball looked like it settled against the hole, on the lip. It didn’t, but it was close—just a foot away. I also knew because of the difficulty of that hole and the pin placement, had I been off by even a few feet on the line I took, the ball would have gone in the water. After my tap-in, I’m now 6-under for the day and 11-under overall.

At the same time, I was making my move, Adam was bogeying No. 13 behind me. The 14th also bit Adam as he made triple bogey there. His 4-over stretch basically ended the tournament for him and left me in the driver’s seat. Knowing Southwind well, I understood 13 and 14 were what I needed to get past. That’s where the danger was.

By the time I got to the 16th, I went against Brent’s wishes and peeked at the scoreboard (not that I told him), and I saw that I was three ahead, and it wasn’t Adam behind me. It was Brian Davis.

It’s pretty well documented that I’m a nervous player. You can hide your nerves because you don’t look nervous with a full swing. But when you have a three-footer and you miss the entire hole, that’s when people can see how nervous you are. And that’s when the difficulty in my game always arose. At times in my career, I tried to make those putts without the proper pace control because of my nerves.

I was nervous, as usual, but that particular Sunday things were a bit different. For me to shoot a really low score, I need to have a couple of dead tap-ins for birdie and easy two-putts on par-5s during a round. That’s what happened that day at Southwind—the hole-out from the fairway and the chip-in from just off the green. I didn’t have to pull out my putter on either hole. Oh, and there was also the kick-in birdie on No. 14. The nerves never had a chance to take over, or, maybe I just happened to control them.

At the 16th, I hit a perfect drive, which was huge, and I had a 3-iron approach that I hit to the middle of the green. I two-putted there for birdie, and I was rolling. How confident was I? Let’s put it this way: I knew I was in control of the tournament, and I still hit a cut off the water on the 18th, which I absolutely flushed. Not the safest of shots, but that’s how secure I felt.

As we walked down the fairway, Brent looked at the scoreboard and said, “Where do you think you’re at?” I replied with, “I’m probably up by a couple, which I knew had to be true because of my earlier glance at the scoreboard.

“You’re up four,” he said, and we both smiled.

I put my 8-iron approach into the middle of the green, two-putted for par—my 23rd and 24th putts of the day—and went on my merry little way, shooting an 8-under 62.

Woody Austin poses with the trophy after his win at TPC Southwind. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR)

That week, the next-lowest score to mine was Marco Dawson’s second-round 65. For the entire PGA TOUR season, TPC Southwind played as the sixth-most-difficult course. Only the four major championship venues and Firestone Country Club, home of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, were harder. On Sunday, I was nine strokes better than the field average of 71.00.

I won four times on the PGA TOUR, my win in Memphis my third title. The disdain I have for my career is I didn’t win enough. I didn’t show winning talent as often as I would have liked, talent I felt I had.

At the 2007 FedEx St. Jude Championship, I did win. I began the final round down four and ended up winning by five. That’s a decent flip of the scoreboard all because of a 62 that is still my all-time best round of golf.

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