From Friday on the outskirts of Paris a golf team united by the flag of Europe, led by a Dane, will take on the might of the United States. When it arrives, the Ryder Cup is the most significant sporting event in the world. This time as Brexit looms and questions regarding what a European identity actually means cast a shadow over society, the broader picture is impossible to ignore.
Thomas Bjørn, Europe’s captain, will not go down the predictable route of refusing to link sport and politics. On the contrary; Bjørn seems of a mind to make Europe, the existing if fractured concept, a cornerstone of his work.
“I think sometimes what is forgotten, in the political discussion, is how great this continent is,” Bjørn says. “From all the way down in Greece, to Iceland, there are so many great countries and so much natural common ground. It is such a small continent compared to the others but together we have so much history and so many great things going for us. I think that is forgotten a little bit in the political picture.
“It means a lot more to us as golfers because we grow up with the European Tour. The backbone of that tour is still our European events. It is part of the life we live. It has a meaning.
“I think a lot of people in their everyday life have a hard time relating to what Europe is. Something that gets a little bit into people’s minds, in my opinion, is ‘What is Europe?’ and ‘What is the European Union?’ So you have Norway and Switzerland and soon to be the UK as part of Europe but not the EU. For some people that leads to ‘Who is what?’ and ‘What is what?’
“The identity of Europe in the Ryder Cup comes from the team; how they see themselves, through different countries, as Europe coming together. That, for me, is a thing the Ryder Cup does so well. It brings us together. You adapt an approach towards Europe, which you know is an essential part of what you do. When you get in that team room; you are in it for yourself, your country and your continent.”
Cynics take an opposing view. That is, with so many of Europe’s Ryder Cup participants based in Florida and afforded the riches of the PGA Tour, the sense of rivalry and belonging has been diluted. Bjørn issues a sharp rebuke. “My experience tells me that hasn’t happened,” he says. “When you see Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy going at it on that Sunday at Hazeltine [two years ago], there isn’t anything missing. And it’s actually quite nice that it can be done in a way where you have a lot of respect for each other afterwards, where friendships carry on. What happens on a sports field shouldn’t dictate who you are as a person.”
Bjørn speaks from a position of authority. He is the embodiment of the European Tour, a domain he has featured in more than 500 times as a player. When growing up in Silkeborg, a small town in eastern Jutland, he had to battle a mother who was adamant young Thomas would not be a golf professional. “She didn’t think that was a way to make a living. She was clearly against it.”
Bjørn removed himself from a rocky relationship with his country’s golf federation to turn professional on his own terms. “If I was going to continue to play golf, I wasn’t going to continue in that environment,” he says. “The sacrifice as a teenager was enormous, to let people dictate how my life was going to look as an amateur golfer.”
Bjørn applied the logic of “bleeding hands and hard work.” Now, he is the first Scandinavian to captain Europe. “There was a feeling Denmark had its place in the golfing world, which wasn’t anywhere,” Bjørn says. “That didn’t motivate me, what did was me driving to be as I could be. I hear youngsters now say they want to be Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy. No; you want to be you. Tiger and Rory don’t try to be somebody else.”
Bjørn is hugely respected but admits his own nature – complex, with traces of obsession – has rendered elements of captaincy tricky. He has refused not only to consider the likelihood of defeat or victory but what life involves after the show is over.
“I wouldn’t like to be the hero if we win,” Bjørn says. “I wouldn’t like to be the villain if we lose. Nobody likes being the villain. As a golfer, I would tell my caddie or my coach ‘This is what I want, this is what we are doing.’ It doesn’t work like that in this role because there are so many little pieces that impact every decision and it has to work for everyone.
“I think about the 12 players, dealing with situations that could arise and how I see the week progressing. Through that process, hopefully they play the golf to deliver a result. I trust them with everything I have because I think this is a wonderful team and a wonderful group of guys. I have committed myself to this time. On the 1st of October, I don’t know what is going to happen in my life, I honestly don’t. I have made no decisions about continuing to play golf, about whether I will do something completely different, about whether I will stay in the game. Those players deserve my full attention.
“It will be a very empty feeling afterwards because for 20 months, this has been everything to me, on my mind constantly. Hopefully a picture will form itself afterwards.”
There is a sombre element attached to Bjørn’s role. In 2006 he launched a stinging attack on Europe’s “most pathetic captain” Ian Woosnam after objecting to the circumstances by which he found out about failure to earn a wildcard pick for the K Club. An apology was instantly made but damage had been done. Scar tissue lingers, as made clear by Bjørn’s emotion when discussing the scenario.
“It is a shame because Woosie did so much for me early in my career and it all turned out very wrong,” Bjørn says. “He meant so much to me. “It was blown out of proportion. Certain things were said that weren’t right, certain things were done that weren’t right. I have tried for 12 years now to put a lid on it but sometimes when something like that happens, you can’t really put it back in its box.
“The sad thing for me is I don’t have a relationship with a man that meant so much to me. I played my first Ryder Cup match with him. I sit here as Ryder Cup captain and, if everything had turned out the right way, he would probably be a big part of my life … I would be having conversations with him about what was going to happen in Paris.” Instead Bjørn and Woosnam have been reduced to small talk at the past two Masters.
Bjørn has already had to withstand something of a storm. When selecting the experienced Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Sergio García and Paul Casey as wildcards, the allegation was of an old pals’ act.
“I think you’d have found if it was old pals there would be one or two others playing,” Bjørn says. “Some of the guys left out are very close to me and I was never scared of making tough decisions. Now, if people think I made these decisions on the back of them being pals then they don’t know me very well and that’s OK. That mostly comes from people who have no idea who I am, what I think and what I believe in.
“It disappoints me if people, who I think know me, would think like this. People who don’t know me and have no concept of who I am? That’s fine. You actually couldn’t come up with a thing that is more not me.”
If Bjørn is central to this Ryder Cup, there is no doubt about its most high-profile figure. Tiger Woods, who has rescued his career from the depths of despair, will don US colours once more. “The game of golf is where it is today primarily because of what he did for the game in the late 90s and early 2000s,” Europe’s captain says. “He changed the face of the game and brought it to the masses. As a golf fan, which I am, you cannot be anything other than excited about Tiger back in the Ryder Cup team.”
Bjørn played in his third Ryder Cup in 2014 when the captain, Paul McGinley, turned to Sir Alex Ferguson to inspire participants with a rousing pep talk. Bjørn’s Liverpool leanings did not prevent him from being captivated but there will be no appearance of Jürgen Klopp at Le Golf National.
“With Alex the timing was unbelievable; so many things fitted in perfectly,” Bjørn says. “That was Paul’s brainchild and his way of doing things. You have to be careful, I don’t want to imitate Paul McGinley. Paul would be the first person to say that to me. Jürgen Klopp would be for me, I don’t think that would be for the team.”
Or for Europe. Over three days in France, Bjørn will be adamant it is all for Europe.
