Yahoo News Thomas Bjorn interview: ‘I felt like a fraud in 1997... my guys will be fine at Ryder Cup 2018’
When Thomas Bjorn entered the European team room at Valderrama for the first time for the 1997 Ryder Cup, he felt akin to a fraud.
There was just one tournament win to his name, from Loch Lomond the preceding year, but in front of him was a team, including captain Seve Ballesteros, with 15 majors between them.
“There were several greats of the game in our side such as [Nick] Faldo, [Bernhard] Langer, Woosie [Ian Woosnam], Olly [Jose Maria Olazabal] and, of course, Seve,” recalled Bjorn. “These were guys that had done so much for European golf and laid the foundations for the guys who play today. They were also guys I’d grown up watching win the greatest tournaments around the world.
“There I was, all of a sudden, sitting in the same team room as them, which was quite daunting at first. But it was one of the weeks I am most grateful for in my career, being able to do just that: sit and listen to them; play and practise with them; and be able to win the trophy for Seve with them, too.”
Bjorn knows he would do well to channel his inner ‘Seve’, although his captaincy to date both before and in Paris has been far calmer and composed than that of the passionate Spaniard.
In Pictures | Europe Ryder Cup team
In Pictures | Europe Ryder Cup team
1/13 Thomas Bjorn
Captain
Getty Images
2/13 Ian Poulter
Captain's pick
Getty Images
3/13 Sergio Garcia
Captain's pick
Getty Images
4/13 Paul Casey
Captain's pick
Getty Images
5/13 Henrik Stenson
Captain's pick
PA
6/13 Francesco Molinari
Qualified
REUTERS
7/13 Justin Rose
Qualified
PA
8/13 Rory McIlroy
Qualified
Getty Images
9/13 Tommy Fleetwood
Qualified
Getty Images
10/13 Jon Rahm
Qualified
Getty Images
11/13 Alex Noren
Qualified
Getty Images
12/13 Thorbjorn Olesen
Qualified
PA
13/13 Tyrrell Hatton
Qualified
Getty Images
He has used an impressionist to mimic the players and lighten the mood, while on a serious note introducing yellow ribbons in tribute to Celia Barquin, the Spanish golfer killed this month in the US.
But it is apt that 21 years on from his own Ryder Cup debut (right), there are parallels to the 1997 win: a team of established stars mixed with unheralded rookies. “There was a generational change happening in the European team, with a new batch of players coming through,” said Bjorn of himself then, plus other rookies Lee Westwood and Darren Clarke.
This time, the rookies list five: Tommy Fleetwood, Alex Noren, Tyrrell Hatton, Jon Rahm and Thorbjorn Olsen. But despite their Ryder Cup inexperience, Bjorn is brimming with what seems a genuine confidence, to the extent that he intimated in yesterday’s practice that two of them, Fleetwood and Hatton, could be paired together.
“I’m truly excited about our rookies,” he said. “They’re all terrific players. This is probably the strongest set of rookies we’ve ever had and they have achieved great things already in their careers. I look at them and I think, ‘Yes, they will be alright when they get out there’, and I have every confidence they will stand up and be counted when it matters.”
On paper, Europe look up against it, with half of the American team making up the world’s top 10. Bjorn, though, has played and been vice-captain as an underdog for most of his Ryder Cup career and he said: “I don’t spend much time thinking about that element. I prefer to focus on what is ahead of myself and the 12 players.
“The American side are very strong but, when you go back in history, it has always looked like that. So, perhaps we do go into the match as underdogs, but I always think it is 50-50 on the week. I very much believe in our team and I know we will go into the week looking to leave victorious.”
Bjorn’s mantra has been that Europe will prove to be the sum of their parts, his focus on “how that 12 will come together as one for Europe’s cause” come Friday. In his captaincy quest, he will be part-Seve, but also channel the other skippers he has acted underneath.
“I’ll take aspects from each of the seven captains I’ve worked with,” he said. “Each of them ran their teams differently, but mine will focus on my personality, my style and what I’m like on Tour with these guys. The most important thing is that I’m true to myself.”
The Ryder Cup in numbers
Bjorn has been like a sponge, leaning on the likes of former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane, among others, in the days leading up to the action at Le Golf National. “I’m not a football manager or a rugby coach, and these guys are not ‘my players’ week in, week out,” said Bjorn. “I’m watching them from afar and, therefore, it’s interesting when you have conversations with them, piecing together what’s going on in their heads. It’s a fascinating process.”
The mood among the players is happy and confident. The question of whether his approach has been right will become clear with the first morning Fourballs. But in many ways, much of his work is done.
He said: “It’s not about me. It’s about those 12 guys — it’s their time to shine.”
