Wentworth PGA championship 'road block threat'

The golf club is on the Wentworth estate in the heart of the Surrey stockbroker belt

A residents' protest over golf club fees on Surrey's exclusive Wentworth estate could drive a wedge between the club and PGA championship organisers.

The club's new owners have brought in a £100,000 debenture for existing members and a doubled annual fee of £16,000.

Residents on the estate - where houses cost millions - have threatened to block roads during the PGA contest but the club said they were "not the type".

PGA organisers said any impact on May's event would be "extremely unfortunate".

The Beijing-based Reignwood Group, which bought Wentworth golf club in 2014, unveiled a new membership structure last year.

But Eric Leon, from Wentworth Residents Association, said local people - who own the estate's private roads and verges - had been "kicked out".

He said many residents were not multi-millionaires and could not afford the new fees, which are due to come in to force in 2017.

"We can, in practice, make it very difficult to hold an event like the PGA," he said.

"There are obviously a lot of people who are prepared to block the road if required," he added.

Wentworth is to host the PGA Championship in May

A spokeswoman for the club said it was disappointing to hear of the threat to block roads, but if there was a "serious threat of this nature" the estate would make the club aware.

She said Wentworth residents had respected the PGA championship for 44 years and there had never been any disruption before.

"I don't think the estate residents are the type of people who would be prepared to block roads during such a celebrated event," she added.

She said the Wentworth club had been confirmed as the host venue of the championship - one of the UK's biggest golf tournaments - until 2018 and was also working on collaborating with the European Tour beyond that date.

The estate's roads committee, golf club and the European Tour are all on Wentworth Drive

A spokesman for the European Tour, which organises the PGA Championship and is based at Wentworth, next door to the estate roads committee and the golf club, said the organisation had no mandate to comment on a private club's arrangements.

He said: "It would, however, be extremely unfortunate if the current dispute between Reignwood and the Wentworth Residents Association had any negative effect on the BMW PGA Championship."

He said aside from showcasing Wentworth to golf fans around the world, the championship had also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for local charities over many years.

Last year's PGA Championship was won by South Korea's Byeong Hun An