What do professional golfers do during the thumb-twiddling minutes and hours of a weather delay?
“I just sat down with one of my mates and chilled out with some carrot sticks,” said the BMW PGA Championship’s halfway leader, Matthew Baldwin, of this healthy nibble. Just like good old Monty in his pomp, eh?
There’s a sizeable carrot dangling on a stick at Wentworth as the race for the DP World Tour’s most prized title, and the small matter of a cheque for £1.15 million, gathers pace.
It’s a brisk pace too. Baldwin’s 13-under tally, after a second round six-under 66 that was completed after a delay of 70-odd minutes due to the threat of lightning, equalled the championship’s lowest 36-hole total set by Paul McGinley back in 2008.
The thrill of the chase will be something Oban’s Robert MacIntyre will relish heading into the weekend. At seven-under, the Scot has ground to make up, but the 28-year-old’s defiant, competitive zeal once again shone through during a topsy-turvy three-under 69 which kept him in it.
After his opening round, MacIntyre had told all and sundry that he’s “here to entertain, not bore.” It sounded like something the great Brian Barnes would’ve said back in ye day. MacIntyre may draw the line at marking his ball with a beer can, mind you.
His effort on day two over the West Course was characterised by graft, craft, scrambling and salvaging as he dug in to cement his place in the upper echelons. It was certainly entertaining.
MacIntyre chipped in for a birdie on the short 14th, made a fine up-and-down on the bunker to save his par on the next before lighting up affairs in the lengthening shadows of a Surrey sundowner with another super driver off the deck on the par-5 17th – he wooed the masses with a similar shot in round one - which whipped around the trees and came to rest in the semi-rough at the back of the green.
From there, MacIntyre demonstrated his wonderful touch and guile and chipped in again for an eagle. A birdie chance on the last slipped by but it had been a decent day at the office for the reigning Scottish Open champion. Roll on the weekend.
Baldwin is certainly looking forward to it. The BMW PGA Championship has served up a few surprise winners down the seasons.
Two decades ago, in 2004, Scotsman Scott Drummond, ranked 435th in the world at the time, waltzed off with the Wentworth bounty.
Here in 2024, Baldwin, who currently sits 363rd on the global pecking order, is in charge. There will be plenty of to-ings and fro-ings to come but the 38-year-old from Southport is enjoying being perched at the summit of the circuit’s flagship event.
These are moments to savour. Baldwin, after all, had pondered giving up professional golf many times as he battled to gain a foothold before earning his maiden DP World Tour win in South Africa last season.
“I had three or four months working at Amazon driving a van just to see me through the winter before the Challenge Tour started in 2022,” reflected Baldwin.
“I learned that there are other things that I could do in life, but I also learned that I really wanted to play golf.
“I remember pulling up to a block of flats, jumped out the van, got in the back and all of a sudden I feel like I’m moving and I’m like, ‘Oh no, I forgot to put the handbrake on’.”
Baldwin is perhaps better at delivering the goods on the golf course. His nearest rival is British Masters winner Niklas Norgaard, who is two shots back on 11-under, while France’s Antoine Rozner birdied six of his last seven holes in a thrilling 65 to barge his way into third on 10-under.
Matteo Manassero, the resurgent PGA champion of 2013, is right in the thick of it on nine-under alongside Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman arrived at Wentworth still nursing the wounds of his sore loss in last week’s Irish Open but a four-under 68 continued to aid the healing process.
“I wouldn’t have liked the week off to just wallow in self-pity,” said the 2014 BMW PGA winner. “To come back out and play a couple of solid rounds to give myself a chance at another really big tournament that means a lot to me is important.”
With MacIntyre up in a share of seventh, his fellow Scots, Ewen Ferguson and Grant Forrest, sit on the fringes of the top-20 on five-under. There's plenty to play for.
