| Thomas Bjørn | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bjørn after winning the 2011Omega European Masters | |||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Full name | Thomas Bjørn | ||||
| Nickname | The Great Dane[1] | ||||
| Born | (1971-02-18)18 February 1971 (age 54) Silkeborg, Denmark | ||||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||
| Weight | 88 kg (194 lb; 13.9 st) | ||||
| Sporting nationality |  Denmark | ||||
| Residence | Silkeborg, Denmark Gothenburg, Sweden | ||||
| Children | 4 | ||||
| Career | |||||
| Turned professional | 1993 | ||||
| Current tour(s) | European Tour PGA Tour Champions European Senior Tour | ||||
| Professional wins | 23 | ||||
| Highestranking | 10 (15 July 2001)[2] | ||||
| Number of wins by tour | |||||
| European Tour | 15 | ||||
| Japan Golf Tour | 2 | ||||
| Asian Tour | 2 | ||||
| Sunshine Tour | 1 | ||||
| Challenge Tour | 3 | ||||
| European Senior Tour | 2 | ||||
| Other | 1 | ||||
| Best results in major championships | |||||
| Masters Tournament | T8:2014 | ||||
| PGA Championship | T2:2005 | ||||
| U.S. Open | T22: 2001 | ||||
| The Open Championship | T2:2000,2003 | ||||
| Achievements and awards | |||||
| |||||
Thomas Bjørn (born 18 February 1971) is a Danish professionalgolfer who plays on theEuropean Tour. He is the most successful Danish golfer to have played the game having won fifteen tournaments worldwide on the European Tour. In 1997 he also became the first Dane to qualify for a EuropeanRyder Cup team. He captained the winning European side at the2018 Ryder Cup.
Bjørn started his career playing on theChallenge Tour from 1993 to 1995. In 1995 he won four tournaments on theChallenge Tour to earn his card for his debut year on theEuropean Tour in 1996. Bjørn made his breakthrough immediately winning his maiden tour title in his debut season at theLoch Lomond World Invitational. He became the first golfer fromDenmark to win a tournament on theEuropean Tour.[3] He finished the 1996 season placed tenth on the Order of Merit.
The follow-up season in 1997 was steady with a number of top ten finishes without a win, however Bjørn did not have long to wait until his next win arrived. He won early in the 1998 season inPerth,Australia taking theHeineken Classic for his second European Tour title. Despite an over par final round of 74, Bjørn won by a single stroke fromIan Woosnam. In April 1998, after a five-week break from competitive golf, Bjørn won for the second time that year at thePeugeot Open de España after a final round 66 took him to 21 under and one stroke ahead of the chasing pack. He later said: "I didn’t really expect this after taking five weeks off, but when your confidence has gone like mine did after winning in Perth, it just shows it’s best to take a break and regroup."[4] After his two wins he finished the year 6th on the Order of Merit.
After a winless period due to injuries and the birth of his first child, Bjørn returned to the winner's circle in October 1999 at theSarazen World Open. This was his fourth career European Tour win and after an unspectacular year, he jumped up the standings to finish the season 14th on the Order of Merit.
He has finished in the top ten on the Order of Merit eight times with a best finish of fifth in 2000. He came close to winning amajor championship at the2003 Open Championship when he was in the lead with 4 holes to play before a slump handed victory toBen Curtis. At the2005 PGA Championship, he was tied for the lead before finishing as runner-up toPhil Mickelson in a second-place tie withSteve Elkington.
Bjørn picked up his first European Tour win in four years and 10th of his career in 2010 at theEstoril Open de Portugal, winning with a score of 23-under-par, five better thanRichard Green. He followed this with three more wins at theCommercialbank Qatar Masters in February 2011,Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in August 2011, winning in a five-man playoff on the fifth extra hole, birdieing the final three holes and theOmega European Masters in September 2011. In December 2013, Bjørn won theNedbank Golf Challenge inSouth Africa.[5] It was Bjørn's 14th career European Tour win.
Bjørn was a member of the winning EuropeanRyder Cup teams in 1997, 2002 and 2014. He also captained the2018 European Ryder Cup team, winning over the United States with 17½ points to 10½ atLe Golf National, Paris, France.
He made the top 10 of theOfficial World Golf Ranking for one week in 2001 after a second-place finish at theScottish Open at Loch Lomond.[6][7]
In 2005 and 2006, Bjørn sponsored theThomas Bjørn Open, an event on the Challenge Tour played in his home country.[8] In 2007, Bjørn was elected chairman of the European Tour's tournament committee. In May 2022, Bjørn was named vice-captain by Team Europe's captainHenrik Stenson for the2023 Ryder Cup in Rome.[9]
Bjørn's last name is sometimes writtenBjörn orBjorn outside Denmark. The Danish (and Norwegian) letter 'ø' represents approximately the same sound as 'ö' in German and Swedish. Literally translated, his surname meansbear in Danish.
Bjørn has three children, Filippa and twins Oliver and Julia with his former wife Pernilla. Bjørn currently resides inLondon.[10]Perth-born air stewardess Dagmara Leniartek had a five-year affair with Bjørn. Bjørn initially cut relations with Leniartek and denied he was the father of her daughter. However, Danish media reported a DNA test had subsequently proved Bjørn was the father of the child – a girl named Isabella.[11][12][13]
Bjørn is a football fan and a keen follower ofLiverpool F.C. Alongside football he also states his other interest to be movies.[14]
1Co-sanctioned by theAsian Tour
2Co-sanctioned by theSunshine Tour
European Tour playoff record (3–2)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003 | Deutsche Bank - SAP Open TPC of Europe |  Pádraig Harrington | Lost to par on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2003 | Nissan Irish Open |  Michael Campbell, Peter Hedblom | Campbell won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 3 | 2005 | Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters |  Brian Davis,David Howell | Won with par on second extra hole Davis eliminated by par on first hole |
| 4 | 2011 | Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles |  George Coetzee,Mark Foster, Pablo Larrazábal, Bernd Wiesberger | Won with birdie on fifth extra hole Foster eliminated by par on fourth hole Larrazábal eliminated by par on second hole Wiesberger eliminated by par on first hole |
| 5 | 2013 | Omega European Masters |  Craig Lee | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 Nov1999 | Dunlop Phoenix Tournament | −14 (69-66-68-67=270) | Playoff | Sergio García |
| 2 | 23 Nov2003 | Dunlop Phoenix Tournament (2) | −12 (67-65-69-71=272) | 2 strokes |  Daisuke Maruyama |
Japan Golf Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1999 | Dunlop Phoenix Tournament | Sergio García | Won with birdie on fourth extra hole |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 Jun1995 | Himmerland Open | E (70-70-76=216) | Playoff |  Anssi Kankkonen, Nicolas Vanhootegem |
| 2 | 23 Jul 1995 | Interlaken Open | −16 (64-71-65=200) | 3 strokes |  André Bossert |
| 3 | 28 Aug 1995 | Coca-Cola Open | −8 (70-70-69-71=280) | 1 stroke | Freddie Jacobson |
Challenge Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponents | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995 | Himmerland Open | Anssi Kankkonen,Nicolas Vanhootegem | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 Aug 1995 | Esbjerg Danish Closed | −4 (73-75-64=212) | Playoff | Ben Tinning |
Other playoff record (1–1)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1995 | Esbjerg Danish Closed | Ben Tinning | Won with birdie on first extra hole |
| 2 | 2001 | WGC-World Cup (with Søren Hansen) | New Zealand −Michael Campbell andDavid Smail, South Africa −Retief Goosen andErnie Els, United States −David Duval andTiger Woods | South Africa won with par on second extra hole New Zealand and United States eliminated by birdie on first hole |
| Legend |
|---|
| Tour Championships (1) |
| Other European Senior Tour (1) |
| No. | Date | Tournament | Winning score | Margin of victory | Runner(s)-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 Aug2021 | Irish Legends | −15 (67-66-65=198) | Playoff |  Phillip Price |
| 2 | 11 Dec2022 | MCB Tour Championship (Mauritius) | −20 (68-61-67=196) | 7 strokes | Simon P. Brown,James Kingston |
European Senior Tour playoff record (1–0)
| No. | Year | Tournament | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021 | Irish Legends | Phillip Price | Won with birdie on second extra hole |
| Tournament | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | CUT | |||
| U.S. Open | T68 | T25 | CUT | |
| The Open Championship | CUT | CUT | T9 | T30 |
| PGA Championship | T45 | CUT | T70 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T28 | CUT | T18 | CUT | T25 | T32 | CUT | |||
| U.S. Open | T46 | T22 | T37 | CUT | CUT | T52 | T48 | CUT | ||
| The Open Championship | T2 | CUT | T8 | T2 | CUT | CUT | T41 | T53 | ||
| PGA Championship | 3 | T63 | CUT | CUT | T2 | CUT | T62 |
| Tournament | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | T37 | T46 | T8 | CUT | ||||
| U.S. Open | CUT | |||||||
| The Open Championship | CUT | 4 | T54 | T73 | T26 | CUT | ||
| PGA Championship | CUT | T48 | CUT | CUT | T48 | CUT |
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
| Tournament | Wins | 2nd | 3rd | Top-5 | Top-10 | Top-25 | Events | Cuts made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masters Tournament | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 7 |
| U.S. Open | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 |
| The Open Championship | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 18 | 11 |
| PGA Championship | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 8 |
| Totals | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 58 | 33 |
| Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Players Championship | T22 | CUT | T22 | T22 | WD | 69 | CUT |
CUT = missed the halfway cut
WD = withdrew
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.
| Tournament | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Championship | T59 | T40 | NT1 | T27 | T28 | 2 | WD | T41 | T11 | T28 | T24 | T44 | WD | ||||
| Match Play | R32 | R16 | R64 | R32 | R64 | R64 | R32 | R64 | R64 | R32 | |||||||
| Invitational | T10 | T31 | T15 | T61 | 18 | T18 | T68 | T40 | T15 | 69 | |||||||
| Champions | T42 | T21 | T39 | T41 | |||||||||||||
1Cancelled due to9/11
WD = Withdrew
QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.
Amateur
Professional
| 1997 | 1999 | 2002 | 2004 | 2006 | 2008 | 2010 | 2012 | 2014 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.5 | 4 |
Thomas Bjørn in theRyder Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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