[Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images]
Queenslander Elvis Smylie will use the DP World Tour’s showpiece tournament to launch his comeback from injury and quest to maintain status for the 2027 season.
The 2024 BMW Australian PGA champion at Royal Queensland has not played since the Italian Open in June, a painful rib stress fracture forcing his withdrawal from the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
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He has spent the past three months resting, travelling and furnishing his new apartment in Jacksonville, Florida, but now returns at the BMW PGA Championship at the feted Wentworth Club in London with a clear goal in mind.
Given the uncertainty around the future of LIV Golf, Smylie needs to play his way inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai ranking by season’s end in order to keep his DP World Tour card. Given he has played just seven events to date in 2026 to sit 164th on the ranking, Smylie will play five events across the next six weeks to make up lost ground.
“I just want to make sure that I’m in that top 100 in the Race to Dubai and give myself the full chance at having full playing rights for next year,” Smylie said.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take for me to get back up to speed again, but I’m not trying to set the bar too high. I really just want to focus on each tournament as it comes and trying to just work my way up the Race to Dubai rankings.”
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The third and final Rolex Series event before the DP World Tour Playoffs, the BMW PGA Championship offers the 24-year-old a great starting point to make his push.
Tied for 31st in his debut appearance at Wentworth 12 months ago, Smylie says he is returning refreshed and with a greater understanding of his physical make-up.
“Any injury’s difficult to go through, but I think that particular time in the season was tough as well because The Open was just around the corner, the Scottish Open, the rest of the LIV season,” he said. “I still wanted to contribute to the team as much as I could, but the fact that I wasn’t able to was quite disappointing.
“I guess it was a period of reflection as well because this year has just been go, go, go and it’s been non-stop. You don’t ever plan to have a break this long but I feel like I’ve learned a lot about my body and I’ve been able to hit the reset button in a way.
“I’m really excited just to get back out there and compete again.”
There is a strong Australasian contingent at Wentworth with former champion and reigning Open champion Ryan Fox paired with fellow 2026 major winners Rory McIlroy and Aaron Rai in the first round, and Adam Scott also returning to a tournament that regularly features on his schedule.
