I followed McIlroy around Wentworth - the difference from LIV Golf was clear

Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy brought the crowds to Wentworth over the weekend but what does the future hold for the sport with LIV golf disrupting the status quo?

I followed Rory McIlroy around the BMW PGA Championship - the difference from LIV Golf was clear

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There are few bigger draws in world golf than Rory McIlroy, and that proved to be the case again at Wentworth last week for the BMW PGA Championship. The (European) DP World Tour flagship event attracted huge crowds across four days of play at the ultra-exclusive course in Virginia Water, but it was players from the American PGA Tour who dominated the top of the leaderboard.

As ever, four-time major winner McIlroy was right in the mix throughout, but it was a little-known Merseyside golfer who set the early pace, achieving a tournament record in the process. Tommy Fleetwood might be the best-known player in the county, but it was his fellow Southport townsman Matthew Baldwin who lit up the competition in its first two rounds.

Three years ago, he was doing deliveries for Amazon just to make ends meet, but after regaining his European Tour card here, he was shooting rounds of 65 and 66 to lead the championship at the halfway point. His two-round score of 131 was the joint-lowest ever recorded at the BMW PGA Championship, equally Paul McGinley's feat in 2008.

Baldwin would eventually finish a highly respectable tied fourth at 17 under par, pocketing himself around £286,000 in the process, but there was little doubt who the majority of spectators were there to see.

The tournament's popularity is partially based on its ability to attract the best European players from the PGA Tour, and with McIlroy in town, the weekend general admission tickets sold out with the first two days close behind. I followed McIlroy around the tremendous Wentworth course on Day Two, and it turned out the thousands had the same idea.

Thanks to the privileges bestowed on media accreditation, I was able to avoid the near-impossible scramble to get a decent view of the action and follow the global superstar around the 18 holes at relative close quarters behind him. To my surprise, I was joined on a few holes by another sporting icon, Gareth Bale, who, flanked by a couple of minders, was keen to show his support for his friend.

McIlroy's presence alone was enough to attract A-list spectators, and thanks to the up-close and personal nature of professional golf, surprised on-lookers enjoyed shouting comments towards the former Real Madrid star as much as they did to McIlroy himself. A moody thunderstorm had interrupted Fleetwood's round in the morning session, but there was no such problem for McIlroy, who enjoyed glorious sunshine as he played alongside Englishman Justin Rose and defending champion Ryan Fox.

The contrast in the styles between Rose and Fox could not have been more evident. Rose performed a very meticulous practice swing routine before every shot, dragging out the process, while New Zealander Fox was hitting his drives as if he were Ronnie O'Sullivan racing around a snooker table.

Quite what McIlroy made of the two vastly different approaches was anyone's guess, but there was little doubt that it was the World No. 3 who was responsible for the enormous gallery - something the European Tour needs to fend off the existential threat from the Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour.

Just two months ago, I attended my first-ever LIV Golf event at Staffordshire's JCB Golf & Country Club. Thanks to the millions of dollars ploughed into the tour by Saudi Arabia's Private Investment Fund (PIF), the event boasted major golfing stars such as Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

Currently, LIV only holds one event a year in the UK, but my experience was a positive one, enjoyed by huge galleries on a course that appeared to have kept the enjoyment of the spectator at the forefront of its design. Just a week prior I had been at Troon for the Open Championship, and whilst no one can account for the fierce Scottish weather (and boy was it wet), I left critical of the lack of sufficient grandstands and viewing points around holes and an inadequate transport infrastructure.

There was no such problem at the LIV Golf event, leading my teenage son to conclude that he had much preferred the experience that the JCB event had afforded him. Attracting a younger audience will be absolutely key for the continued growth of the sport, and that applies to all of the tours. Thankfully for the BMW PGA Championship, the problems of the Open were not an issue, and the set-up of the course for spectators and its vast fan village was arguably on par with its LIV Golf rival.

But if both events could be considered a success - which is great news for live golf fans - what are the key differences between attending a DP World Tour event and LIV Golf in Great Britain? To put it simply, noise and money!

While both events were great spectator events, the Wentworth tournament clearly still has its roots planted in the traditions of the sport. While following McIlroy around, volunteers would act quickly to stamp out any perceived unrest in the galleries. On a number of occasions, I saw officials speak directly to fans, requesting them to either be quiet while McIlory, Rose and Fox prepared to take their shots or tick off boisterous individuals who might have shouted out after drives had been smashed down the fairway.

In stark contrast, LIV Golf's mantra of being 'Golf but louder' could not be more apt. With Hip Hop music on the tee box, a party hole that does what it says on the tin, and an all-round attitude that says this event will not be played in silence at any point, it is clear how the breakaway tour has tried to differentiate itself from its established rivals.

Golf's purists will hate it and feel far more at home on Wentworth, where McIlroy himself is in the process of having a brand new exclusive residence built. But fans who want to rinse as much fun out of their day as possible will probably find themselves equally satisfied at either event.

A bigger issue for the European Tour is the money that its rival can offer, and another reason why so many of its very best players left to join the PGA Tour in the first place, long before the Saudi money came along. After Billy Horschel eventually defeated McIlroy in a play-off for the BMW PGA Championship title on Sunday, the American walked away with a cheque for around £1.15million. But Rahm cashed a staggering £3million for his LIV Golf triumph in Staffordshire. It's no wonder that many of the best players are following the money.

Whether European Tour or LIV Golf is for you comes down to personal preference. Both are solid spectator events but offer very different experiences. If you prefer your 18 holes to be more traditional and gentile, you might want to stick with the prestige of Wentworth. But if you're prepared to sacrifice some of that for all-out action and entertainment, it could be LIV that will give you a better day out.

Despite this threat to the European Tour, there is something that it still has in its favour, for now at least. For all of the razzmatazz and excitement of LIV Golf, in a sporting sense, there is still the feeling that golf's historic events, such as the BMW PGA Championship, simply mean more and are of greater importance to win. Just ask Rory McIlroy.

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