BMW TURNS WENTWORTH’S HOLE-IN-ONE INTO A TEN-CAR CHOICE
At the 2026 BMW PGA Championship, the first professional to ace Wentworth’s 14th hole can select a preferred model from ten BMWs — or choose the new all-electric BMW iX5.
AI-assisted voice playback. Starts only when you choose Play.
BMW has turned one of tournament golf’s most familiar spectacles into a more personal luxury decision. At the 2026 BMW PGA Championship, the first professional to make a hole-in-one at Wentworth Club’s par-three 14th will no longer be tied to a single display car. Before the tournament, each player can choose a preferred prize from ten key BMW models — with the new all-electric BMW iX5 available as an alternative.
The change was announced on 15 September as the DP World Tour’s flagship event began its week at Wentworth. It is a small but revealing shift. A luxury prize becomes more meaningful when the winner has agency, and the ten-car selection turns the ace from a promotional moment into a form of personal specification.
Ten answers to one perfect shot
The 14th is one of Wentworth’s great theatre points: a compact par three where spectators can see the entire challenge and understand the consequence immediately. The hole-in-one prize has long linked BMW’s tournament sponsorship to a single, unrepeatable sporting moment. Offering a choice of cars now extends that idea into the brand’s increasingly broad model range.
The exact decision each player makes before teeing off adds another layer of interest. One professional may prioritise grand-touring comfort, another the response of a BMW M model, and another the quiet performance and space of the electric iX5. The prize therefore becomes a brief statement about the player as well as the shot.
A championship built as an experience
This is BMW’s 22nd year as title partner of the championship, which runs at Wentworth from 15 to 20 September and is expected to attract around 120,000 spectators. The field includes defending champion Alex Noren alongside Rory McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, Ludvig Åberg and a strong group of English players including Aaron Rai, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.
Wednesday’s Celebrity Pro-Am opens the social side of the week, with football names including Gareth Bale, Robbie Fowler, John Terry and Eden Hazard expected to participate. Music extends the event beyond the final putt: DJ Tony Perry is scheduled for Friday, The Kooks for Saturday and Ella Eyre for Sunday evening.
For BMW, the Championship Village is the other showroom. Visitors can see the all-electric BMW i3 — the second model of the Neue Klasse generation — alongside the electric i7 and new iX5. The display links the prestige of the tournament with a product transition that is materially changing the company’s road cars.
Power, precision and performance
An interactive Trackman experience recreates Wentworth’s 18th hole through three challenges themed around power, precision and performance. Participants receive a personalised BMW M bag tag, while the best daily score earns a BMW Driving Experience. The language is familiar, but the connection works: elite golf and performance cars both turn marginal gains, repeatability and control into visible outcomes.
The hole-in-one remains the most elegant expression of that relationship. It is technically demanding but instantly legible, and it creates the kind of unscripted moment sponsorship cannot manufacture. By allowing the winner to choose from ten vehicles, BMW adds a clienteling instinct to the prize — recognition that luxury is increasingly defined not by being given the most expensive object, but by being given the right one.
Whether the 14th yields an ace cannot be planned. The anticipation can. For spectators, the selected cars give the hole a tangible stake; for the players, one perfect swing could end with a set of keys chosen before the first round began.