Rory McIlroy has confirmed he will join his Ryder Cup teammates Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose in the field for the BMW PGA Championship.

The four-time Major Champion won the prestigious BMW PGA Championship in 2014 and finished runner up to Molinari last year, finishing two shots behind the Italian who went on to win The Open Championship two months later.

This year the BMW PGA Championship, the fourth Rolex Series event of 2019, moves from its traditional May date to September and marks the start of the qualification campaign for Padraig Harrington’s 2020 European Ryder Cup team.

McIlroy will be keen to make a strong start on that front as he targets a sixth consecutive Ryder Cup appearance and he will be aiming to build on his impressive start to 2019 which has already yielded two victories on the US PGA Tour alongside top ten finishes in the US Openand US PGA Championship and all three World Golf Championships.

‘The BMW PGA Championship is always a great event and I’m looking forward to playing in it again, particularly in its new September date,’ said McIlroy.

‘The West Course should be in superb condition and the change in date should also mean an even stronger field.

‘I’ve won at Wentworth before and finished second behind Frankie last year, so hopefully I can do well again and also get off to a good start in the Ryder Cup qualification. ‘

McIlroy joins World Number Four Rose, who is a two-time runner-up in the event, and the two most recent winners of the Race to Dubai, Fleetwood and Molinari, who formed a record-breaking partnership at last year’s Ryder Cup in France.

Further star names will be announced in the coming weeks for the tournament, which is part of the Rolex Series for the third consecutive year.