WENTWORTH, England — That so few American players compete in the BMW PGA Championship, the DP World Tour’s flagship event, is an annual disappointment for the Old World circuit. And this time round is no different. Led by Billy Horschel, the event’s 2021 champion, this week's U.S. contingent has only eight players competing.
Still, part of that small band playing for the first time is Peter Malnati. The World No. 88 is here courtesy of a new category that exempts “a maximum of the leading available 10 players who are entered into this tournament and are not otherwise exempt from within the top 70 of the FedEx Cup Standings at the conclusion of the 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs.”
Malnati was 65th on that prestigious list and so eligible to take advantage of what he is calling “an unexpected opportunity” amidst what he had originally planned to be a six-week break. And the 37-year-old, one of the game’s great enthusiasts, is so far loving every minute.
“I’ve never been to Wentworth,” says the Knoxville, Tenn., resident. “And it was only recently that I discovered there is a category here for me this week. I wasn’t planning to come. But I’ve always wanted to play a bit more around the world. That isn’t exactly easy for me at the moment. I have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old at home. So not ideal for globe-trotting. That said, this is an easy trip from East Coast America.”
Further convincing Malnati that the journey would prove worthwhile is that, through his membership of the PGA Tour Policy Board, he has had contact with DP World Tour chief executive Guy Kinnings.
“Through him I got to know how much the DP World Tour puts into this event,” says Malnati, who will be joined by his wife on the weekend, before the pair take a couple more days to be tourists in London. “So I wanted to come see it. I hope to be part of it all late on Sunday. But whatever, I can’t wait to see it, too. This course is such a great setting.”
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Also helping Malnati’s level of enjoyment is the hospitality he has been shown by a friend in Ryan Fox. The treatment the American has enjoyed from the New Zealander, a rookie on the PGA Tour this year and this week’s defending champion, has only underlined the long-held notion that life on the Old World circuit contrasts sharply with that in the New World.
“There’s not a ton of camaraderie on the PGA Tour,” Malnati says. “You land at an airport, pick up your courtesy car or rental car and go to a hotel. Everyone tends to stay in different places though. There is some allegiance through where guys went to university. There are few cliques like that. But for the most part, it is a very individualistic tour.
“It’s different here,” he continues. “Yesterday, I joined a group to play a few holes in practice. There were two guys from Spain, Alejandro Del Rey and Santiago Tarrio, and Fabrizio Zanotti from Paraguay. I could tell how they were bonded by their language. They clearly knew each other really well. They go to dinner a lot. They stay in the same hotels. I like that. It’s really cool. There is clearly more of a connectedness on this tour than what we have in the States. Neither is right or wrong, but I like what I’ve seen this week.”
Still, given the fact that he has two small children at home, any notion Malnati may harbor about joining the DP World Tour is on the back burner. That’s not to say he doesn’t fancy giving it a whirl at some stage.
“I know it doesn’t take that much effort in terms of tournament starts to join the DP World Tour,” he says. “And I would love to. I need to get my game in better shape though. This year I was able to play in three of the four majors for the first time. Even though I’m 37, I feel like I’m still improving. So I know I can get my game to the stage where I’m in all four majors every year. And if I do that, I could join over here. I would love to play a few events. I would so love to see Dubai, for example.
“Right now, my golf is very much a priority for me,” he continues. “It is how I provide of my family. But I’m in the middle of the parenting thing, which only underlines how I would need to be in a different place with my game to join this tour. I want to get to the stage where, when I travel, it is to the biggest events in the world. That might come to pass, of course. We might be heading towards a more global tour, who knows?”
On that front, Malnati put on his visionary hat. Like many he is aware that the game would benefit from a series of events that plugs the current chasm that exists between the four majors and regular tour events. The largely unlamented World Golf Championships tried to bridge that gap, but ultimately failed as so many ended up being played in the United States.
“The PGA Tour is still professional golf’s ‘big brother,’” Malnati says. “But the DP World Tour has markets that are hungry for golf. Maybe we need to be more outward looking. There is so much growth potential. So we need WGC equivalents that are truly global and not just the ‘North American Golf Championships.’ They would be phenomenal theater and excite golf fans around the world.”
All of which is easily applicable to this historic event, one that has a “who’s who” of European golf on its list of past champions. Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam, Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olazabal, Colin Montgomerie, Luke Donald, Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy have all won at Wentworth. But only one American in the last four decades, Horschel, has done likewise. Add that to the list of things that need to change in professional golf.