Defending champion Shane Lowry will be among the biggest names at the 2023 BMW PGA Championship (Image via Getty).
Europe's best players, several of them among the best in the world, will be teeing off at the BMW PGA Championship starting Thursday. The tournament field is at the top of its game, thanks to the presence of the full European team at the Ryder Cup.
The tournament will tee off at 1:45 a.m. (all times Eastern Time). The field will be made up of 138 players, all starting from hole 1, with 10-minute intervals, except for some specific cases that will be spaced five minutes apart.
Among the groups with the greatest media repercussions will undoubtedly be those of Rory McIlroy, Ludvig Aberg and Víktor Hovland. The three members of the European Ryder Cup team will be teeing off at the BMW PGA Championship at 3:40 a.m.
Others also preparing for the event in Italy and taking the BMW PGA Championship as a measuring stick for their sporting form are Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka, who will tee off together at 4:00 a.m.
Captain Luke Donald and co-captains Francesco and Edoardo Molinari will have plenty of time for discussion during the event. They were grouped together and will start at 4:30 a.m.
The other six European team members were also grouped into two trios and will play back-to-back. Jon Rahm, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton will tee off at 7:40 a.m., followed 10 minutes later by Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre.
The other two co-captains of the European Ryder Cup team who will be present at the tournament will be Thomas Bjorn and Nicholas Colsaerts. They will also tee off together at 3:15 a.m. Completing the group will be Stephen Gallacher.
This group will be followed by another interesting trio on the first day, composed of Padraig Harrington, Victor Perez and Rasmus Hojgaard.
The newly crowned Irish Open champion, Vincent Norrman, will also be at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England. He will be teeing off on the first day at 8:10 a.m., along with Jordan Smith and Jorge Campillo.
The BMW PGA Championship is a tournament that has been played since 1955, always at the West Course of the Wentworth Club. Several former champions will be present at the 2023 edition, such as the aforementioned Lowry (defending champion), Hatton, Francesco Molinari, McIlroy and Donald.
But others such as Billy Horschell (winner in 2021) and Danny Willet (2019) will also be there. Others with good results in this tournament (although they have not won) such as Jamie Donaldson or the aforementioned Perez and Rose, will also be players to take into account.
BMW PGA Championship Round 1 tee times
Here are the tee times of all the players for the first round of the BMW PGA Championship:
