While the talk of the 2022 BMW PGA Championship is now about Shane Lowry’s win despite a late charge from the likes of Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy, the discussion leading up to the event at Wentworth Club in Surrey, England, was focused on the presence of more than a dozen players from the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Verbal blows from McIlroy, defending champion Billy Horschel and Ian Poulter were traded early on during the tournament week before the passing of Queen Elizabeth II forced play to be suspended on Thursday and Friday. As a result, the DP World Tour shortened the event to 54 holes, a main selling point for LIV Golf, the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-funded series that has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record.
So if you haven’t already, make your joke about 54 holes now.
Before the event, LIV Golf wished good luck to 15 of its players in the field, leaving off Justin Harding, who competed in the first three LIV events, and Pablo Larrazabal, who participated in LIV’s first event in London. Two players finished inside the top five, six inside the top 20, three missed the cut and one player withdrew (then wound up at the Alabama-Texas game on Saturday).
Here’s how each LIV player finished at the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
4: Talor Gooch
Gooch clapped back at some comments made by Horschel and proceeded to back it up on the course, finishing solo fourth at 15 under after a trio of rounds under par, including an 8-under 64 in the second round.
T-5: Patrick Reed
You’d think being involved in multiple lawsuits would make it hard for Reed to concentrate on his golf, right? Apparently not. Reed shot a 66 in the final round of LIV Golf Boston to help his 4 Aces win yet again and went even lower at Wentworth in the final round, signing for a 9-under 63 to finish T-5 at 14 under.
T-13: Lee Westwood and Adrian Otaegui
Both Otaegui and Westwood shot as low as 65 over the three rounds, with each ultimately finishing one shot outside of the top-10 at 12 under.
T-18: Sam Horsfield and Abraham Ancer
Ancer and Horsfield each shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to jump inside the top 20 and finish at 11 under for the tournament.
T-23: Richard Bland, Justin Harding and Bernd Wiesberger
Harding was the most consistent player in this trio at T-23 with three rounds under par: 69-67-70. Bland and Wiesberger each went low with rounds 66 and 67 on Sunday.
T-32: Ian Poulter, Pablo Larrazabal
Poulter wore his LIV Golf team’s logo loud and proud on his shirt sleeve and finished T-32 alongside Larrazabal.
T-50: Graeme McDowell
McDowell was consistently good this week but just never found that extra gear to go low despite strong rounds of 71-69-69 to finish at 7 under.
72: Shaun Norris
In last place among those who made the cut, Norris struggled on Sunday with a 2-over 74.
Missed Cut: Laurie Canter, Branden Grace and Wade Ormsby
Canter finished the first two rounds at even par and missed the mark by three shots, with Grace one shot behind at 1 over after a 2-over 74 in the second round. Ormsby five shots off the pace at 2 over.
Withdraw: Sergio Garcia
Garcia shot a 4-over 76 in the first round before play was called for the day following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He then withdrew, without reason, and was spotted on the sidelines of the highly-anticipated Alabama vs. Texas college football game in Austin on Saturday.
Opinion: Sergio bolsters his reputation for unprofessionalism, yet again
Excited to be in Austin supporting our great friend @CoachSark and our Horns against Alabama! Hook ‘em baby! 🤘🧡 #ThisIsTexas #HookEm pic.twitter.com/kVIaE1ioHA
— Angela Garcia (@TheAngelaAkins) September 10, 2022
