The PGA Championship before and after Wentworth

The story behind the championship

The BMW PGA Championship began in 1955 and has become the professional championship most closely associated with Wentworth. Its earlier history is more widely travelled: the title was decided at courses in England, Scotland and Wales before the West Course became its permanent home in 1984.

The PGA championship before Wentworth

Ken Bousfield won the inaugural championship at Pannal in 1955. That beginning matters because it locates the event within the history of the Professional Golfers' Association, rather than treating the modern sponsorship and Surrey setting as the whole story. The championship existed before the European Tour began in 1972 and before Wentworth became its familiar annual home.

Peter Alliss won the title three times, in 1957, 1962 and 1965. In the Tour's anniversary account, he identified those victories with Maesdu, Little Aston and Prince's. Three wins at three different courses provide a compact illustration of the event's early identity. The champion had to succeed wherever that year's competition was staged.

Harry Bradshaw won in 1958 and Dai Rees in 1959. Those names connect the championship with the wider professional game in Britain and Ireland. Looking back from the modern international field, it is easy to overlook how strongly the event's first years were rooted in the PGA and the players who represented that golfing world.

A title that travelled around Britain

The pre-Wentworth venues invite a different kind of golf journey. Pannal places the opening chapter in Yorkshire; Maesdu takes the story to North Wales; Little Aston connects it with the Midlands; Prince's brings it to the Kent coast. The competition's geography was much broader than a single county or region.

This travelling history is useful to spectators because it changes how familiar courses are read. A course may be known today for an Open, a club tradition or a particular architectural reputation, while also holding a place in the PGA Championship story. Each tournament left another layer of sporting history behind.

The early names in the champions table also need their contemporary event context. The terms open and closed were important during the championship's development, and in 1967 and 1968 there were separate open and closed competitions. A complete list must identify both rather than squeeze those seasons into a misleading single annual result. In 1967 Brian Huggett won the closed championship at Thorndon Park, while Malcolm Gregson won the open competition at Hunstanton. Their victories belong to separate contests within that transitional season.

The championship was not held in 1970 or 1971. Those missing years form part of the transition into the European Tour era. They should remain visible in a chronological table, alongside the distinctions between the two competitions staged in each of the preceding paired seasons.

The European Tour arrives

Tony Jacklin won at Wentworth in 1972, the first year of the European Tour. Peter Oosterhuis followed in 1973 and Maurice Bembridge in 1974. These three successive editions created an early connection between the championship and the West Course, although the permanent relationship was still a decade away.

The champions underline the event's position in the British professional game of the time. Jacklin had already won The Open and the US Open; Oosterhuis was a leading European competitor; Bembridge added another significant title to his career. The event joined the emerging tour with a history already behind it.

For visitors at Wentworth today, this means the championship connection began before 1984. The first three European Tour editions were played there, then the event resumed travelling. Distinguishing those two periods makes the history more accurate and gives the present venue a clearer place within it.

Sandwich, Birkdale and St Andrews

Arnold Palmer won the 1975 PGA Championship at Royal St George's. Neil Coles won there in 1976 and Manuel Piñero in 1977. That Sandwich sequence followed the three years at Wentworth and took the title to one of England's great coastal championship settings.

Nick Faldo won at Royal Birkdale in 1978. Vicente Fernández followed at St Andrews in 1979, before Faldo won again at Royal St George's in 1980 and at Ganton in 1981. Jacklin's second championship came at Hillside in 1982, followed by Seve Ballesteros in 1983.

Together, those editions show why the modern name should not make readers confuse this competition with an exclusively inland event. Some of its most prominent champions won on links courses. A visitor following the earlier history could build a route through Kent, Southport and St Andrews without visiting the modern home at all.

The variety also affects comparisons of scores. A total achieved on one layout cannot be assessed independently of par, weather and the number of rounds completed. The table keeps venue and score together so that the result remains connected to its setting.

A permanent home from 1984

Howard Clark won the first edition of the uninterrupted Wentworth sequence in 1984. Paul Way followed in 1985 and Rodger Davis in 1986. Bernhard Langer won in 1987, Ian Woosnam in 1988 and Faldo in 1989.

The move gave the championship something it had previously lacked: a regular sporting stage. Players could return to a familiar course, spectators could develop favourite viewing places and successive champions could be remembered against the same landscape. That continuity is central to the event's present character.

It did not make the competition static. Different champions found different ways to succeed, and the course itself would be altered over time. A repeated venue offers a thread through the years, while the changing players and conditions prevent the championship from becoming the same contest each season.

The West Course's place in professional golf extends beyond this tournament, including the Ryder Cup and World Match Play. For this history, however, the annual PGA Championship is the essential connection: repeated visits have made Wentworth part of the event's identity in a way no earlier host could match.

Faldo, Ballesteros, Langer and Woosnam

Faldo's four championship victories came in 1978, 1980, 1981 and 1989. The dates are important because they show success across both the travelling period and the Wentworth era. His record is not simply a sequence of wins at the present venue.

Ballesteros won in 1983 and 1991. Langer won in 1987, 1993 and 1995. Woosnam won in 1988 and 1997. These champions place the event close to the central figures of European golf's rise, but their titles should be understood as individual competitive achievements as well as part of a broader generation.

For a spectator, the roll of honour provides an easy route into that history. A familiar Ryder Cup name often leads to a specific PGA Championship year, and that year leads to a course, a score and a Sunday finish. Following those connections makes the tournament more tangible than a general description of Europe's golfing success.

Montgomerie's three consecutive victories

Colin Montgomerie won the championship in 1998, 1999 and 2000. The consecutive sequence has a special place in the event's history because it combines repeated success with the same annual stage at Wentworth.

Winning once establishes a player's name on the trophy; returning to win again adds the demands of defending a title; doing it a third time creates an unusually clear period of dominance. The dates also place Montgomerie's run at the turn of the century, linking the established European names of the previous decade with the players who followed.

The record is particularly useful when reading the champions table chronologically. Most years bring a new name, or a returning winner separated by several seasons. Three neighbouring entries carrying Montgomerie's name immediately stand out. The table gives that achievement its simplest and strongest presentation.

New winners and new generations

Anders Hansen won in 2002 and again in 2007. Luke Donald won consecutive editions in 2011 and 2012. Between and around those repeat champions, players including Scott Drummond, David Howell, Paul Casey and Simon Khan added their own chapters.

The list rewards readers who look beyond only the most famous names. Drummond's 2004 victory and Khan's 2010 success are part of the same championship history as the wins of leading major champions. The event's importance comes partly from that openness: an established star may win, but the trophy can also transform another player's career.

Matteo Manassero won in 2013, and Rory McIlroy followed in 2014. Byeong Hun An won in 2015, Chris Wood in 2016 and Alex Noren in 2017. That sequence brought a succession of different champions to Wentworth while preserving the continuity of the venue.

The names also show how international the championship had become. Its PGA origins remained important, but the roll of honour was no longer primarily a story of British and Irish professionals. The modern field and its winners reflected a much wider professional game.

September and the modern championship

Francesco Molinari won in 2018, followed by Danny Willett in 2019 and Tyrrell Hatton in 2020. Billy Horschel won in 2021 and returned to win again in 2024. Shane Lowry won the shortened 2022 edition, Ryan Fox won in 2023 and Noren returned as champion in 2025.

Those results give recent spectators plenty of connections with the longer history. A returning winner links different seasons; a first-time champion adds a new nationality or career story; a weather- or circumstance-shortened edition needs to be read on its own terms rather than compared mechanically with four-round totals.

JJ Spaun won the 2026 championship on his first appearance. He finished at 17 under par with a total of 271, two strokes clear. His closing 67 included four birdies over the last five holes. The result added another American champion to a competition whose roots lay in the British PGA.

The modern title therefore carries several identities at once: a PGA championship with a long pre-tour history, a leading event on the European circuit and a tournament inseparable from Wentworth. Understanding all three makes a visit more rewarding.

How to read the complete results

The champions table separates the pre-European Tour competition from the modern tour years without breaking the chronological sequence. It marks the two missing seasons and identifies the open and closed editions in 1967 and 1968. Shortened tournaments retain their actual winning totals and completed-round information.

That care prevents several misleading comparisons. Faldo's four titles span different hosts; Montgomerie's three straight wins belong to Wentworth; a three-round winning score should not be ranked as if it covered seventy-two holes. The table gives the reader enough context to understand each result before comparing it with another.

Visit Wentworth today

Use the BMW PGA Championship event hub to plan a tournament visit, then read the Wentworth venue guide and the site's where-to-stay guides. The course history provides the longer story of the West Course and its other major competitions.

Our suggestion is to choose one historical thread before arriving: Faldo's record, Montgomerie's consecutive titles or a favourite recent champion. Following that thread gives the walk around Wentworth a purpose beyond simply finding the leaders. Allow time to watch the course itself, especially where the closing holes bring the competitive story to its conclusion.

Early champions

Early editions are listed separately from the modern tour results. The source links beside each BMW PGA History and Champions entry lead to the organiser material and independent history.

Champions and years not held

Open and closed championships in 1967 and 1968

The PGA staged distinct open and closed championships in 1967 and 1968. Malcolm Gregson won the 1967 open championship at Hunstanton; Brian Huggett won the closed event at Thorndon Park. David Talbot won the 1968 open event at Dunbar, while Peter Townsend won the closed event at Royal Mid-Surrey. Both competitions appear in the early table, with their source details.

Sources and useful official links

• Reported: Independent championship results

Useful reading for your visit

• BMW PGA Championship 2027 at Wentworth
• Where to stay for the BMW PGA: Virginia Water, Windsor and Surrey
• Golf history, where it happened

Visit today

• Wentworth Club visitor guide
• BMW PGA Championship 2027 at Wentworth
• Where to stay for the BMW PGA: Virginia Water, Windsor and Surrey

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