Thomas Bjorn emboldened by victory of an old-timer like Darren Clarke at Open Championship
Dane Thomas Bjorn is apparently rejuvenated by the victory of his old friend Darren Clarke at the Open Championship and believes that the victory of an old-timer like Clarke has given new hope to the other ageing fellow players.
After an unprecedented surge of the juvenile blazing guns in the sport, Bjorn thinks that there is hardly anything that can replace hard-earned experience.
“I think the leaderboard has shown this week there is no substitute for experience,” said the 40-year-old Bjorn. “You have to keep believing that whatever age you get to there is always a chance. The only thing that can hold you back is when the body gives
up.”
Bjorn is one of the many seasoned golfers who are edging up to their early or late 40’s and have been feeling a little alienated with the recent success of the young golfers on both sides of the Atlantic. All the five previous major winners have been in
their 20’s before Clarke finally decided to put an end to juvenile wins, to clinch the Open title at the age of 42. Phil Mickelson won the 2010 Masters and the rest of the majors of two consecutive years slid into the hands of young trail blazers.
Bjorn started off his Open bid with a glistering 65 in the first round, to end up with a joint lead with the amateur wonder Tom Lewis of England. He shot second and third rounds of 72 and 71 respectively to stay in contention for the summit while Lewis faded
away in obscurity owing to his sloppy performance. He started off the final day, trailing Clarke by three shots and eventually finished four shots behind the winner.
“For anyone to win their first major championship it is a great thing but for Darren he has dreamt of this all his life and it is brilliant to see and so well deserved,” added Bjorn, who barely managed to qualify for the event, being the late reserve after
Vijay Singh decided to opt out of the third major of the year.
Bjorn is considered one of the most successful Danes who have earned laurels for his country. Although he never went over to win a major title in his career, he has 17 professional victories to his name, most of them coming on the European Tour.
The Dane’s best major results came in 2000 and 2003 in the Open where he finished runners up. He also posted runners up finish at the 2005 PGA Championship. His 2003 episode of the Open Championship was the closest he ever came across of winning the title,
but blew away his chances on the final hole.
Bjorn’s arguments certainly have a point when Clarke became the oldest winner of the Open since 1967. He managed to read the treacherous Links course like a mastermind, while many of the young major winners like Rory McIlroy, the reigning US Open champion,
and Charl Schwartzel, the Masters champion, faded away due to their inability to read the course. 41-year-old Mickelson finished as the runner-up alongside his country mate Dustin Johnson.
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