I’ve seen PGA Championship winner Chris Wood up close and he is a perfect fit for Ryder Cup stardom
While victory at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth does not guarantee Chris Wood a debut Ryder Cup place, it virtually secures a spot in the Europe side for Hazeltine in September and what a wonderful addition he will be.
I was fortunate to captain Great Britain and Ireland, and therefore Chris, in the 2013 Seve Trophy and he was a great team member. He showed to me that he has the ability and temperament to thrive at the Ryder Cup.
He possesses a good mind. We saw that on the 18th where it took a lot of strength to do what he did; sand wedge his second shot when a five iron would probably have got him to the green, but he knew what he had to do to get the job done. Textbook.
Wood, 28, showed he has an old head on young shoulders down the stretch. His front nine was exemplary and to equal Danny Willett’s tournament-record 29 in the final round of such a huge event to move four shots clear was absolutely fantastic.
But when things started to go wrong down the back nine – he carded three bogeys in four holes from the 14th – he was able to stand up to the challenge and pull off victory, his third European Tour success, which was exceptional.
Life-changing
He could have gone on and made a few birdies to win by four or five shots but I think he showed more class with the way it happened. He was tested and came out on top, one shot clear of Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg.
This was a big win for him. It’s life-changing. Not only did he pocket £637,000 in prize money, but moved inside the top 25 players in the world rankings, a career-high position. He will be able to glean a lot of confidence from it and I’m sure it will take him to another level.
The Olympics is also a possibility for Bristol-born Wood and it was amusing to hear that his stag do is scheduled to clash with the Games – it could be decision time for him.
After the first round it looked as though Willett could run away with it but it didn’t happen. He suffered a poor last round, hitting a 76, and he will be disappointed with his weekend. It has not gone to plan since his Masters victory in April.
Moving across to America, there was an important win for former world No1 Jordan Spieth at the Dean and Deluca Invitational in his home state of Texas as he returned to form following his Masters collapse.
The 22-year-old held a five-shot lead with nine holes to play at Augusta only to lose out to Willett and, despite his first six or seven holes on Sunday not being particularly impressive, he very much got his game together.
Sam Torrance OBE is a multiple Ryder Cup-winning golfer and media commentator. Follow him on Twitter @torrancesam