A brilliant final round of four under par 68 means Padraig played the weekend around Wentworth in ten under par and had not a dropped shot in sight! It was one of his best performances around a course he has struggled on in the past and left him in a tie for 12th place, a fantastic finish in such a high quality field. He again resorted to his tried and tested demolition of the long holes as he birdied three of the par fives (a total of seven for the weekend) and added another shot at the par four 9th hole where he a had a tap in. He will take great encouragement from this performance with the Dunhill Cup on the horizon in two weeks time!
A superb third round of six under par 66 was Padraig back to his trademark best as he birdied all four par 5’s and added two more birdies to jump up over 30 places on the leaderboard at Wentworth. He now lies just outside the top twenty with all to play for Sunday. It was his best round in years around Wentworth and he is only a couple of shots out of a top ten finish! The key to his improved scoring was down to fairways hit as he kept the ball in play and holed a few nice putts along the way. He tees off Sunday at 10.50am local time!
Padraig saves the best for last as he makes the cut on the mark at the BMW PGA Championship. He got off to a terrible start as he dropped two shots in his opening three holes to leave himself behind the eight ball. Six pars followed to have him out in two over par and three shots outside the cutline. But a stormimg back nine sealed the deal as he made three birdies in the first seven holes to be on the mark at two under par. He inexplicably took three shots to get down from no where on the par five 17th but rallied well to get up and down from just inside 100 yards at the last.
Padraig opens his account at Wentworth with a one under par round of 71. He got off to a topsy turvey start exchanging birdies with bogies in his first five holes to be out in level par. His back nine was the epitome of steady as he recorded eight pars before finishing in style with a birdie four on the last hole. He had hit the perfect drive to the bottom of the hill before leaving his second shot just short of the green but in the rough. His chip finished just inside 20 feet but he drained the putt to end the day on a positive note.
Padraig continues his run on the European Tour with a visit to Wentworth for this weeks BMW PGA Championship. It is the third tournament of the five counting events in the Rolex series where the winner will be crowned in Abu Dhabi in November. The field this week is a who’s who of golf led by last weeks runner up, Rory McIlroy. Padraig has mixed memories of Wentworth but will be keen to do well after last weeks missed cut at Royal County Down.
Tee Times: Opening round Thursday at 8.10am, and 2nd round Friday at 11.50am with Danny Willett and Bernd Wiesberger