Denmark’s Thomas Björn will aim for his fourth title of the year and the 20th of a glittering career at the Andalucía Masters, which will be held at Club de Golf Valderrama from October 27-30.
Björn, who has won twice in Spain, has “unforgettable memories” of the course, having made his Ryder Cup debut in 1997 under the captaincy of the late, great Seve Ballesteros.
In the Saturday fourballs, when he was paired with Ian Woosnam, Björn beat Justin Leonard and Brad Faxon 2&1. In the Sunday singles he faced again Justin Leonard, the most in-form player on the American Team, and secured a half point for Europe in a memorable match.
Björn has also played in numerous editions of the Masters at Valderrama and two editions of the WGC-American Express Championship. His best result to date was fifth at last year’s inaugural Andalucía Masters.
The great Dane will head to Andalucía in fine form, having amassed a trio of titles already this term.
In February, twelve days before turning 40, Björn claimed the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy, his first win this season.
Six months later, and having finished fourth in The Open Championship, Björn captured the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles after a marathon five-man playoff against George Coetzee, Mark Foster, Pablo Larrazábal and Bernd Wiesberger.
Seven days later came his third victory of the year at the Omega European Masters in Crans-sur-Sierre, where he shot a closing round of 62 – the joint lowest of his European Tour career – to turn a three stroke deficit into a four shot win over Martin Kaymer. Coincidentally, he had also trailed by three strokes going into the final round at Gleneagles.
Bjorn believes he is currently playing “the best golf” of his career, saying: “It was an amazing two weeks. My wedges were the key – I started hitting them so well, and just kept it going.”
Björn made his breakthrough in his rookie season in 1996 by claiming the first of his 13 European Tour titles, the Loch Lomond World Invitational.
In 1998 he added two more, the Heineken Classic in Australia and the Peugeot Open de España at the former El Prat course in Barcelona.
One year later, he prevailed again in Spain by winning the Sarazen World Open at PGA Catalunya Resort, in Girona.
