VIRGINIA WATER, England -- The 17th and 18th holes on the West Course at Wentworth were never the best in European golf, but for a long time those par-5s were, alongside the final two holes at The Old Course in St. Andrews, the best known and possibly best loved.
In the days before year-round coverage of the European Tour, there were just a handful of events covered by television and Wentworth hosted two of them, the season-starting PGA Championship and season-closing World Matchplay Championship.
It was natural, therefore, that the tree-lined fairways of the West Course, and the final two holes in particular, were synonymous with the golden age of European golf and the fortunes of its superstars -- Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Jose Maria Olazabal.