Summary
The Wentworth Pro-Am is played on the Wednesday before the BMW PGA Championship begins, with around 38 tour professionals each leading a team of three amateurs round the West Course. It's a shotgun start: half the teams go out at 8am and the rest at 1pm. In 2026 it falls on 16 September. For spectators, it's the best access to the players you'll get all week. The detail below covers who you'll see, how tee times work, and where you watch it from.
Once a year, Wentworth fills up with people who are famous for something other than golf. The day before the BMW PGA Championship starts belongs to the Celebrity Pro-Am, where a tennis knight, an England captain and a Formula 1 driver can all be found working their way round the West Course, Wentworth's championship course, alongside the professionals. Some of them are there for a laugh. A surprising number can seriously play.
If you follow golf, no other day gets you closer to the players. And if you're weighing up a day out with guests, it's the day when the famous names are playing, not just watching.
What the Pro-Am Actually Is
Every team is made up of one tour professional and three amateurs, playing a full round of the West Course on the day before the championship begins. Some of the amateurs are club golfers, some are invited guests, and the famous ones are the reason the crowds turn up. The best scores count towards a team prize.
Despite the relaxed mood, the professionals are quietly working. This is their last proper look at the course before Thursday's opening round, so you'll spot them pacing greens and checking the distances they'll need at the weekend, in between chatting to a footballer about his backswing. The preparation is real, even though the day around it never takes itself too seriously.
Who You'll See
The names change every year but the calibre doesn't. Last September the field included Sir Andy Murray, Gareth Bale, Ben Stokes, Lando Norris, John Terry, Teddy Sheringham, Robbie Fowler and Michael McIntyre, and the pairings were half the fun: Murray, Bale and Sheringham went round together with the defending champion Billy Horschel, while Terry played alongside Brooks Koepka. The year before, Tom Holland went one better than turning up: he teamed with Tommy Fleetwood, alongside his own two brothers, and won the whole thing at 31 under par.
And don't assume the golf itself is a sideshow. Bale plays off scratch, a handicap of zero, and at a recent edition hit the longest amateur drive of the day. Murray plays off two. Terry is a left-hander who worked his way down to scratch, and the actress Kathryn Newton has played off plus two, a handicap better than scratch. The mood is relaxed, but the golf from names like these is worth watching for itself.
Every professional in the field is at Wentworth that week anyway, playing their practice rounds, so a walk around the course tends to deliver the whole cast: the Pro-Am teams out on the fairways, and the rest of the field grinding away on the range beside them.
How Tee Times Work
There's no orderly procession off the 1st tee. The Pro-Am uses a shotgun start, which means every team begins at the same moment from a different hole, with half the field going out at 8am and the other half at 1pm.
For a spectator, that's good news. There is golf all over the course for most of the day, and a group is never more than a few minutes' walk away. The DP World Tour publishes the tee sheet in tournament week, showing which celebrity starts on which hole, so by breakfast on the day you'll know where to head first.
Pro-Am Day or a Championship Day?
The two are genuinely different days out. From Thursday to Sunday, the flagship title of the DP World Tour, the main European men's tour, is being decided. There's a leaderboard, a Friday cut that sends the bottom half of the field home, and the roars roll back up the estate when someone holes out across the water at the last on Sunday afternoon. If you want stakes, that's your day.
What the Pro-Am offers instead is access. Nobody is defending anything on the Wednesday, so a player will stop, sign, chat and pose for photos in a way you won't see once the championship starts. One Sky Sports producer sent to cover it described having his breakfast beside England cricketers before he'd got anywhere near a fairway. That is about the level of formality to expect. If you're bringing guests who care more about the occasion than the golf, it's the obvious choice. And if you can't decide, plenty of people do both: the Pro-Am for the atmosphere, then a championship day at the weekend for the golf.
Where You Watch It From
Wentworth's 18th finishes by water, in a natural amphitheatre that has seen its share of final-day turnarounds. A few steps away from it, in the Championship Village, sits the 72 Lounge, and on Pro-Am day that's where we host you.
VIP admission covers both the course and the lounge, so you can follow a team for a few holes and then come back for lunch without missing much. There's morning coffee and breakfast when you arrive, chefs' food stations running through the day, and a seat in the lounge whenever you want one. Beer, wine and soft drinks are included. Champagne, cocktails and spirits are available at the bar. The usual shape of the day is a wander out to watch a few teams, then the 18th from close range, then lunch while the morning's stories get retold.
A Few Questions, Answered
How close do you actually get to the players?
Closer than at any other professional tournament you'll attend. The crowds are a fraction of what the championship days draw, the ropes feel almost decorative, and the players are under no pressure, so autographs and photos genuinely happen. Stand near a tee and you'll hear the team chat between shots.
Do you need to know golf to enjoy it?
No. The shotgun start means a group is always within a few minutes' walk, the mood is social rather than hushed, and half the field are people your guests will recognise from somewhere other than golf. Anyone who wants the sport can follow the professionals preparing for Thursday. Everyone else tends to follow the faces.
Which celebrities are playing in 2026?
The DP World Tour announces the field in tournament week, usually a day or two before the Wednesday. Recent editions are the guide to the calibre: Murray, Bale, Stokes, Norris and Terry have all played in the last few years, and the same mix of sport, film and television is expected in September.
The Pro-Am day in the 72 Lounge is one of the ways we do the BMW PGA Championship, alongside hospitality on the championship days later in the week. It starts with a phone call about who is coming and what kind of day you want, and we take it from there.
Chloe Burchell
Event Manager
Event Manager at Imperial Corporate Events. She’s hosted clients at everything from the Six Nations to the Eastern & Oriental Express, and she’s good company on the day.
