Few venues in world golf carry the weight of history that Wentworth Club does. Tucked into the Surrey countryside at Virginia Water, this private club has spent a century at the centre of British and European golf, and its bond with the PGA Championship is one of the sport's longest-running love affairs.

From Country Estate to Golfing Cathedral

Wentworth's story begins not with golf but with property development. The land was a private residence for the extended family of the Duke of Wellington in 1805, and by 1922 the developer George Tarrant had established it as the Wentworth Club as it is known today. Tarrant brought in the celebrated architect Harry Colt, whose East Course opened first in 1924, followed two years later by the now-legendary West Course, originally christened "Championship No. 2 Course."

A third course, the Edinburgh, arrived in 1990, opened by the Duke of Edinburgh and designed by John Jacobs with input from Bernard Gallacher and Gary Player, rounding out the trio of full-length layouts alongside a nine-hole executive course.

The Birthplace of the Ryder Cup

Wentworth's significance to golf extends well beyond any single tournament. In 1926, an informal match between British and American professionals took place on the East Course ahead of that year's Open Championship — a gathering widely credited as the conceptual spark for the Ryder Cup. The real thing followed decades later: Wentworth hosted the 10th Ryder Cup in 1953, with the United States edging the hosts 6½ to 5½.

That early prestige made Wentworth a natural home for professional golf's growing calendar. The West Course staged 17 editions of the Daks Tournament, a precursor to the European Tour, and the 1952 edition became the first golf event ever televised. The club also hosted the World Cup in 1929 and served as the permanent home of the World Match Play Championship from 1964 to 2007.

The PGA Championship Takes Root

The tournament now known as the BMW PGA Championship has its own distinct lineage. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association under the name the British PGA Championship, and for its first decades it moved between various courses around Britain. Wentworth's association with the event actually predates its permanent tenancy: the West Course hosted the tournament briefly between 1972 and 1974, before the championship found other homes.

Everything changed in 1984. Since that year, the tournament has visited Wentworth's West Course every single year, transforming the club from an occasional host into the event's spiritual and permanent home. Sponsorship names have shifted over the decades, Volvo, then BMW, but the venue has not. Today the tournament sits on the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) as a marquee Rolex Series event, and Wentworth also functions as the Tour's headquarters, much as TPC Sawgrass does for the PGA Tour in America.

A Roll Call of Champions

The list of winners at Wentworth reads like a history of European golf's golden generations. Bernhard Langer won in 1987 and 1993, Ian Woosnam in 1988 and 1997, Nick Faldo in 1989, and Seve Ballesteros in 1991 — a run of Ryder Cup heroes lifting the trophy on home soil, or close to it, year after year. Brian Bamford's 1961 aggregate score of 266 still stands as the tournament record, while An Byeong-hun's 21-under-par performance in 2015 remains the mark relative to par.

A Living Landmark

Wentworth has never stood still. Ernie Els has reshaped the West Course multiple times over roughly the past decade, refining its bunkering and green complexes, and the club installed SubAir technology, the first of its kind in Europe, to keep the greens firm and consistent year-round. Having marked its centenary in 2022, the club hosted the 2025 edition of the BMW PGA Championship for the 45th time overall.

From an informal exhibition match in 1926 to its current status as the DP World Tour's flagship fixture and headquarters, Wentworth's relationship with the PGA Championship reflects the broader arc of European professional golf itself. Rooted in tradition, shaped by its champions, and still evolving nearly a century on.