Bjorn: Clarke deserves wild card
Thomas Bjorn believes Darren Clarke should be a certainty for a Ryder Cup wild card on Sunday night if he feels ready to return to golf.
And that is some declaration from the Dane because it could well leave himself and Lee Westwood fighting it out for the last place in Ian Woosnam’s team.
“If I was captain, that’s the way I’d be thinking – and that’s the talk amongst everybody,” said Bjorn, who with two rounds to go in the points race still had an outside chance of making it into the side without needing to be picked.
He would have to win the BMW International Open in Munich tomorrow and at the halfway stage he was in a tie for 29th place, five behind leader Martin Erlandsson.
Bjorn and Westwood are two of the closest people to Clarke, whose wife Heather lost her battle with cancer on August 13.
Not having played since the Open in July there was a big question mark over the Ulsterman’s participation in the first match on Irish soil, but he has now made himself available for selection and has entered the Madrid Masters the week before.
Bjorn and Westwood made their debuts alongside Clarke in 1997 and have both partnered him to victories since.
“If he’s ready to play, that’s great,” added Bjorn. “I can’t see a team without him. He’s one of the three or four best ball-strikers in the game and you want those guys there.
“Lee and I have been friends for 10 years and when it comes to a week like this it’s difficult to put friendship aside and battle it out. But there’s been no banter about it between us because it means too much.
“If I don’t win tomorrow then Woosie has got to make a difficult decision and one of us is going to be disappointed.
“I’ve been in the situation twice before where it’s gone away from me when I thought I could be part of it. I know how to handle it, but I would have my reasons to feel disappointed if I miss out again.
“I’m not going to say now what they are. I’ll say on Sunday if that’s the way it is.”
It could be that K Club memories play a decisive part in Woosnam’s decision.
Westwood has won on the Ryder Cup course twice, whereas Bjorn will never be forgotten for taking 11 on the penultimate hole when joint leader of the European Open last year.
As well as finishing with an 86 that day, he has also walked off the other course at the venue because he was “fighting demons” and chose not to return there this summer.
But it ought to be remembered that prior to that nightmare ending 14 months ago he had played one of the most impressive rounds of his career to lead by four after 54 holes – and also won a £100,000 diamond for his wife Pernilla previously for playing the par fives in 14 under.
Bjorn lifted the Irish Open at nearby Carton Park with a birdie-birdie finish in May, whereas Westwood’s last win was three years ago. But the Worksop golfer was joint top-scorer against the Americans last time with 4 1/2 points out of a record five.
Westwood, despite suffering from suspected tonsilitis and breaking his driver yesterday, was 20th at halfway in Germany a stroke ahead of Bjorn, but after missing seven successive cuts earlier this season cannot make it into Woosnam’s line-up on points.
It is either a wild card or a week off.
End
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