McIlroy presented with PGA’s Open Championship medals at Wentworth

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy added two more medals to his collection of PGA honours after receiving them from Sarah Bennett, the Association’s Captain, on the eve of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

McIlroy was presented with the Braid Taylor Memorial Medal and another pertaining to the Tooting Bec Cup, the oldest trophy PGA Members play for.

The Braid Taylor Memorial Medal is awarded to the best placed PGA Member in the Open Championship and McIlroy won it for the fifth time by virtue of finishing third at St Andrews in July.

The Northern Irishman has now won the Tooting Bec Cup three times, but he was not the sole recipient of a commemorative medal at Wentworth to mark the achievement.

It is awarded to the PGA Member born in, or with a parent or parents born in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland, who posts the lowest score in The Open and four qualified for the honour this year.

US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, McIlroy and Tyrell Hatton all posted six-under par rounds of 66 on day two and Tommy Fleetwood followed suit on day three.

The competition began as a 36-hole strokeplay tournament in 1901 at Tooting Bec Golf Club in south London and the inaugural winner was J H Taylor, one the Association’s three founders.

It was subsequently organised by The PGA’s southern section, but the tournament was not contested after 1923. However, the trophy has subsequently remained with the Association although the criteria for winning it in the form of a commemorative medal have changed.

The criteria for winning the Braid Taylor Memorial are the same but it is a more recent addition, having first been played for in 1966 when it was won by Dave Thomas.

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