Last Year's Championship
2007 BMW PGA Championship
Anders Hansen triumphed over one of the strongest fields ever assembled for the prestigious PGA Championship to win this tournament for the second time in six years. Level par after the first two rounds, Hansen played superb golf over the weekend, shooting 67 followed by a 69 on a tough, wet and windy Sunday, which put him in a playoff with England’s Justin Rose.
The Dane, looking relaxed and visibly enjoying being back at the sharp-end of the leaderboard wasted no time seizing the moment by holing a 25-putt birdie putt on the par-5 18th, the first playoff hole. Rose could not match him.
“I think it means a lot more to me this time than the first time I won it,” said Hansen. “It’s just a fantastic feeling because I have put in so much hard work and effort recently. What means most to me is how I feel about myself and how I feel about my game and what I do, and right now it feels pretty good.”
And feel good he should! Six of the world’s top-11 players were drawn to Wentworth this week for Europe’s flagship event. But of the pre-tournament favourites, only Vijay Singh threatened, as he came surging through the field on the last day courtesy of a brilliant last-round 66 which ultimately placed him tied-3rd with South Africa’s Richard Sterne.
It was another memorable and hugely successful week in this event’s long and illustrious history. And the immaculate West Course, recently remodelled and modernised by the Club’s Worldwide Touring Professional and Wentworth resident Ernie Els, had seldom looked better or played tougher. Els described the challenge as being “as close to a major championship test as the West Course has ever been” and the scoring confirmed this. Hansen’s winning score of eight-under par was the highest four-round aggregate since Rodger Davis won the championship way back in 1986.