Simon Thornton is relishing a first appearance at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth since 2014 as he rounds off the last of his starts on the DP World Tour this season.
Thornton won the PGA Playoffs in Cyprus in March to earn starts at the Amgen Irish Open, Betfred British Masters and now the BMW PGA among a handful of Challenge Tour starts, while he had to forego a PGA Cup place as it clashed with the Irish Open at his home course of Royal County Down.
Thornton made the cut at the Belfry but missed the cut in front of a sizeable home crowd in Newcastle last week but he is still excited to have the family alongside him at Wentworth this week and hopes it is a tournament to remember.
“I look forward to those events now. I’m looking forward to enjoying the week with my family there. If I play well, great, play poorly, great,” said the 47-year-old.
“When I was there before my kids were too young to remember it, but now they are old enough to appreciate it and remember it, so that was something I wanted to tick off the list before I got too old was go and play in an event where they understood and remember it.
“This time round, they’re old enough to come and see what all the fuss is about. My little boy is 12 now and he’s obsessed with golf, playing off scratch, so he’s just so excited about that week.
“Family was the main reason why I stopped playing full time on Tour, so to get this chance again is just fantastic. And it came out of the blue really. I hadn’t done much practice going to the PGA Playoffs, so I just went to enjoy the week and to end up winning was a bonus.”
Wentworth will be a different test to Royal County Down, Thornton will be faced with plenty of long irons and maybe the odd hybrid into greens on some par-4s but he is taking in a nothing to lose attitude to the week.
“If I shoot 80, 80 it’s not going to change my life if I shoot 65s or 67s or whatever it may be I’ll be delighted and move on. I may as well go get it and don’t hang on to anything or play negatively, it’s not going to change the way I play. It’s a long golf course for me I’m going to hit long irons and rescues on a couple of par fours.
“If I can get over those holes I’m going to be hitting a lot of drivers which is one of the straightest clubs in my bag anyway, so just because I’m hitting driver and 8-iron I can make birdies from there.
“I can be aggressive to my targets all the time, whatever happens happens.”
The Spa Golf Club professional believes he is playing well enough to make the cut which would open the door to a sizeable pay day and he isn’t going to be overawed by the 7,200 yard track.
“Good week is making the cut. My game can get me there, I have to be good on the mental side of things to cope with the fact I am going to be hitting long irons. If I stand there hitting a four iron to 40-feet that’s a bonus, two putt and get off.
“Players have been hitting irons off the tees into the rough, you’re not guaranteed to hit the fairway with an iron and you’re not guaranteed to miss it with a wood.”
Thornton is part of a sizeable Irish contingent heading to Surrey including Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin.
McIlroy will be looking to right the wrongs of another near miss last week while McKibbin needs to get back on the horse and churn out a good finish to maintain his finish for a PGA Tour card next season.
Lowry returns to Wentworth searching for his first individual win since holding off McIlroy here in 2022 and as he trundles through a gruelling run of nine events in ten weeks all the way to the DP World Tour Championship he hopes he can knock off another win before the season is out.
“My game feels good,” said Lowry. “Need to tidy up my iron play. But yeah, my game feels really good. I’m driving the ball really well, and happy with what my putter is doing. So you know, if everything clicks, you never know.
“It goes without saying, to win at Wentworth would be pretty cool.”