St Andrews Magazine Edition 04

Bjørn joins an elite
group of Rolex
Testimonees who have
been selected to
captain Europe in The
Ryder Cup over the 50-
year relationship
between Rolex and
golf.
These include German
Bernhard Langer
(2008), Scotland’s Colin
Montgomerie (2010),
Spain’s José María
Olazábal (2012) and
Paul McGinley, from
Ireland, in 2014. Like his
predecessors, in 2018, it
will be the Dane’s turn
to present the watches.
The ceremony will mark
Bjørn’s crossing from
player to captaincy.
The Great Dane – as he
is known throughout
the golf world – will
take on the
responsibility of leading
Team Europe to
success, of inspiring
synergies among
teammates and
bringing out the best in
each player.
“There’s nothing better
as a professional golfer
than walking down the
16th, 17th and 18th
holes in a Major
championship if you
have a chance to win
– The Ryder Cup brings
that same feeling and
pressure from the very
first morning; it’s a really
unique atmosphere,”
he says. “In terms of
how all-consuming the
captaincy is, it’s on my
mind 24/7.”
Even with his vast
playing experience,
the nature of
captaincy in team golf
will be a new
experience for Bjørn. As
fellow Testimonee
Annika Sörenstam, who
led the European Team
in the 2017 Solheim
Cup, puts it:
“My experience at the
Solheim Cup, eight
times as a player and
then as a vice captain,
can’t compare to the
year I captained the
team in 2017,” she says.
“It requires seizing the
whole picture and
making decisions with
that bird’s eye view in
clear sight.”