THE annual return to the tree-lined fairways of Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship is a potent reminder of the importance of history, continuity and interactions between players and fans.

The tournament was once nomadic, but in making the West Course its permanent home the championship became rooted both geographically and historically. Why so? Well, that decision was made in 1984, right when a series of movements were coming together: the European Tour was 12 years old and maturing, Severiano Ballesteros was a major winner about to become a major influencer, the European Ryder Cup team was on the cusp of revolution, a generation of golfers who had shown promise were ready to bloom, and the sport was about to thrive outside the ropes as well as inside them.

Ballesteros was joined by Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam, Bernhard Langer and Jose Maria Olazabal as pioneers of the game, and their deeds on the fairways and greens of the West Course were forever etched on a generation of fans who helped fuel golf’s renaissance this side of the Atlantic.

Back then, Wentworth also hosted the World Match Play Championship every year and there are few players or fans who do not possess a rich seam of associations with the layout. The same can be said of subsequent generations and winners of this tournament have attested to the inspirational qualities of those memories.

Consider British and Irish winners, from the surprise triumph of Scott Drummond in 2004, through further successes for David Howell, Paul Casey, Simon Khan, Luke Donald (twice), Rory McIlroy, Chris Wood, Danny Willett, Tyrrell Hatton and Shane Lowry. Each of them has talked of their vivid recollections of watching the event on television and often of actually visiting the course as a child, running down the fairways and pestering players for an autograph or a ball.

When Khan completed a superb Sunday 66 to win from seven back of the 54-hole lead in 2010 one of his friends wept tears of joy as he spluttered: “We used to chase Seve round here, Simon loved it, it’s why he’s here, it’s why we’re all here, I can’t believe he’s going to win at Wentworth.”

Nor is it just local golfers who have been happily triggered by the place. 2013 winner Matteo Manassero revealed that he had watched endless videos of Seve winning at Wentworth and five years later Francesco Molinari lifted the trophy before recalling how he had raced home from school to watch his compatriot Costantino Rocca’s 1996 win. Why had he been at school on the final day? Because back then the event concluded on an English Bank Holiday Monday.

And what about the American Billy Horschel? In 2020 he said: “I grew up watching this event on TV. It has a soft spot in my heart. I remember Monty winning it three years in a row and there are a lot of other memories in there, too.” A year later he added to them by winning himself.

Wentworth’s West Course is something of a field of dreams, then, but who gets to make a dream come true this year?

Each Way – Tom Kim at 28/1

Do the top three in the betting have a good chance this week? Of course they do. Over and above their deserved world ranking, McIlroy is a course winner, Rahm has twice been second (his only starts) and Hovland arrives fresh from the back-to-back wins that clinched the PGA Tour’s FedExCup. Is there much juice in their prices, though? I’m not sure there is and I feel much the same about Hatton, Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick.

The man who catches my eye at the top end of the market is Joohyung (aka Tom) Kim. True, he’s a course debutant and most often winners at Wentworth have contended on the course at the weekend ahead of their first win. But the exception in the last 20 years sets a nice precedent because it was Kim’s compatriot Ben An.

Kim is also in fine form. He was eighth at the US Open in June, sixth and second at the Scottish Open and Open in July, then contended at the St Jude Championship, was T10th in the BMW Championship and posted a pair of 67s in the Tour Championship. He’s accurate from the tee and likes a layout that allows him to express himself with shot creation. I have a feeling the West Course will suit him well and he’s not entirely new to it – he played it in July ahead of the Open when he talked of loving the history of the place.

Each Way – Billy Horschel at 33/1

Nice and simple for pick two. We’ve already established that Horschel likes Wentworth, but he also just likes being in London and having West Ham United supporters roar their approval of him (he’s a Hammers fan). Three visits to the course have reaped fourth, first and ninth. He closed the PGA Tour season with T13th and fourth, he was only four back of the 54-hole lead last week, and I’d have him a little shorter than the current price.

Each Way – Shubhankar Sharma at 200/1

After finishing eighth at the Open the Indian missed the cut on his return to action in the European Masters but bounced back with seventh last week when he was the 18- and 36-hole leader. Now he returns to a track he has enjoyed in the past. On debut in 2019 he was third heading into the final round when finishing T17th, he made he cut when not in great form in 2020, and was ninth in 2021. A big price for a man who likes playing between trees.