Bjorn waits as Europeans fail to qualify for Wentworth

NOT a single European player has qualified for a shot at the €1.24 million first prize in the HSBC World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth on October 16-19.

British Open runner-up Thomas Bjorn was knocked out of an automatic spot in the 12-man field when Shaun Micheel, Chad Campbell and Tim Clark filled the top three positions in the USPGA championship. But Bjorn is first reserve, and world number one Tiger Woods is not expected to play.

When the new sponsors announced earlier this year that they were to invite the top 10 players from the four majors, plus defending champion Ernie Els and Woods, they could not have expected the points table to end as it did. For the first time since 1969 the four majors went to players who had never won one before Mike Weir at the Masters, Jim Furyk at the US Open, Ben Curtis in the Open and then Micheel.