Steve Palmer's BMW PGA Championship first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch the BMW PGA Championship

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 8.30am Thursday

Best bets

Alexander Bjork to win 12.30pm threeball
3pts 6-4 Betfair, Power

Fabrizio Zanotti to win 11.15am threeball
3pts 11-10 bet365

Nathan Kimsey to win 2.20pm threeball
3pts Evens bet365

Jens Dantorp to win 10.35am threeball
1pt 23-10 Betfair, Power

BMW PGA Championship first-round preview

Ryder Cup fever is clearly building at Wentworth this week and the BMW PGA Championship will provide an excellent opportunity for some Team Europe bonding, with players teeing up alongside each other in the opening threeballs.

Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg will be the first of the European Ryder Cup stars to make an appearance, comprising the marquee morning match, starting at 8.20am. Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka hook up at 9am.

European skipper Luke Donald is alongside two of his vice-captains – the Molinari brothers – in the 9.30am group, then the first afternoon is dominated by two other Ryder Cup threeballs, with Jon Rahm, Nicolai Hojgaard and Tyrrell Hatton immediately followed by Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre.

Hovland, Fleetwood, Rahm and Rose would be the selections for punters wishing to dabble on the glamour groups, but preference is for day-one threeball investments in some more low-key gatherings, with the unflashy quartet of Alexander Bjork, Nathan Kimsey, Fabrizio Zanotti and Jens Dantorp making most appeal.

Bjork has become one of the most consistent operators on the DP World Tour – the neat and tidy Swede has posted eight top-tens this year and he finished runner-up to compatriot Aberg in the European Masters the week before last.

A missed cut by a shot in the Irish Open last week seems likely to be nothing more than a blip for Bjork, whose only significant weakness is a lack of driving distance. That is not a major handicap at Wentworth and the consistency of Bjork in all other departments is the reason why he leads the DP World Tour stroke average statistic this season.

Bjork, who has finished in the top 30 in three of his six Wentworth starts, can be preferred to Ryder Cup reject Adrian Meronk in the 12.30pm contest. Meronk, who has admitted to crushing disappointment since narrowly failing to get on the European team, has played in two BMW PGAs and is yet to break 70 in the opening round.

Danny Willett withdrew from the Irish Open last week with a shoulder tear, has failed to make the weekend in eight of his last 11 tournaments, and his last top-50 finish was more than six months ago. Bjork can prove too steady for Meronk and Willett in round one.

Nathan Kimsey, a playoff loser on the PGA Tour in the Barbasol Championship in July, won twice on the Challenge Tour last season and is a 30-year-old on the up. Kimsey looks a solid option against Jazz Janewattananond, who has missed his last six cuts and has missed the cut in both his previous Wentworth starts. World number 437, Mikael Lindberg, completes the 2.20pm group.

Fabrizio Zanotti, fourth in the Czech Masters last month, has eight top-25 finishes to his name in the BMW PGA. The accurate Paraguayan makes plenty of appeal at odds-against to defeat Nicolai Von Dellingshausen and Tapio Pulkkanen (11.15am), while Jens Dantorp is another precise driver to follow along the tight, tree-lined fairways of Wentworth.

Dantorp, third in the Barracuda Championship on the PGA Tour in July, can find fairways and greens and leave his more erratic playing partners – Niklas Norgaard and Johannes Veerman – in his wake.

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