The shoulder injury which had threatened Thomas Bjorn’s place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team has stopped him playing in the Lancome Trophy, starting in Paris tomorrow.
Bjorn drove from his London base to the French capital, but was soon on his way back admitting that he did not feel much like playing in any case because of last week’s terrorist attacks on the United States.
The Dane, of course, does not have the worry of recovering in time for the Ryder Cup now because the match has been postponed for 12 months.
‘‘I think players will try their best this week, but there will be an element of just going through the motions,’’ he said. ‘‘A missed three-foot putt does not seem to matter much just now.
‘‘Sport is a very, very little thing in people’s lives at the moment.
‘‘That said, sport can bring people together. If everyone was to sit at home and watch television, we would get very depressed. It is important that this tournament goes ahead as scheduled.’’
Bjorn has given his backing to a plan to raise funds for the disaster victims.
Two years ago Darren Clarke attracted many of the European Tour’s star names to Ireland following the Omagh bombing and raised £400,000.