Thomas Bjørn admitted he still get nervous when standing on the first tee, despite a hugely successful career that has seen the Dane win 15 times on the DP World Tour and captain Ryder Cup Team Europe to victory at Le Golf National in 2018.
The 52-year-old, who won’t be playing a full DP World Tour schedule next year after his exemption expired following the culmination of the 2023 Race to Dubai, is looking to defend his title at this week’s MCB Tour Championship Mauritius following his maiden win on the Legends Tour at last year’s edition.
Bjørn carded a 61, the lowest ever recorded score at The Legends Course at Constance Belle Mare Plage, en route to victory last year, and is hoping to rekindle those fond memories this week.
“There’s probably three or four golf courses in my career that I have a good feeling every time I step foot on,” said Bjørn.
“So when you when you go to a new place and you do well on it, when you come back you know you have an eye for it, but a year’s a long time, you’ve still got to hit the golf shot shots.
“I played extremely well last year, and I was kind of thinking of what did I do well? I was extremely good off the tee, which is important on this golf course as it’s very tight. I played the par 5s very, very well through the week. So, there’s there’s an opportunity on this golf course if you can keep a ball in play and take advantage of those fives – that’s where you get your numbers.
“It’s nice to play a golf course that you’ve played well on before.”
With a career that has spanned 30+ years, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Bjørn doesn’t get nervous when teeing it up at an event, especially a Legends Tour event where things are a lot more relaxed than a week on the DP World Tour.
But he’ll be as nervous as an amateur teeing off in front of the group behind when play gets underway on Friday.
“Every time you’re on that first tee there are nerves, I just think that’s my competitive nature,” he said,
“I played golf with a good friend of mine in Dubai last week where we had a nice match going, and I got nervous coming down the stretch because you want to win. You’re driving yourself harder. I think when the mind switches on in this game, it only has one place to go, and that’s being really competitive and switching on.
“You have to be able to switch on and off, and it’s a lot easier to switch off here when you can go and lie down the pool, compared to being in a high rise in the middle of China with nowhere to go!
“I don’t think I’ve become less nervous as my career has progressed. I still wake up in the morning not really knowing what’s ahead. In golf you can do everything right, but you always have that uncertainty and can go out and shoot 78. The nervousness is what’s ahead.”
