Bjorn believes in major dream

Europe’s wait for a winner of a major golf title will now go into a seventh year – but Thomas Bjorn is more convinced than ever that he can be the man to end the barren spell.

For the third time in his career the 34-year-old Dane finished as a runner-up, losing the USPGA championship at Baltusrol when he lipped out from 25 feet and Phil Mickelson chipped to two feet on the par-five last.

But the mood Bjorn was in afterwards was so different to the 2003 Open at Sandwich.

In Kent, the Ryder Cup star led by three with four holes to play, then went bogey, double bogey, bogey and lost by one to the then unknown Ben Curtis.

His three shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the short 16th will haunt him if he never does break his duck.

But this time Bjorn, one behind with two to go, birdied the long 17th with a 15-foot putt and then thought, as everybody did, that his 25-footer was destined for the bottom of the cup.

“It was on a perfect line and a foot from the hole it was going nowhere else - but somehow it stayed out,” he said.

“You’ve got to be disappointed because I gave myself a great chance. But I tried 110% and came up one shot short.

“And I’ve lost to someone who not a one-major guy, but a 10-major guy. This win is going to make it easier and easier for him to win more – and he deserves greatness.

“I have a strong belief in myself, though. I’ve taken some pretty hard knocks, but I’ve taken them in my stride and I believe that I am a good player who can handle myself and do well in big championships.”

Bjorn admits he did not expect this to be the week for such a challenge.

Last month he was crushed when he led the European Open with two to play, hit three balls in the River Liffey, took 11 and finished with an 86.

Then, at the Open, he went out of bounds on the wide-open 18th hole of St Andrews for a double-bogey six which meant he missed the cut by one.

At that point, though, the world number 31 decided to do something about it.

First came a break with his family, then he embarked on swing changes with Simon Holmes – and worked on the mental side with Jamil Qureshi, the ‘mind magician’ who has already helped Nick Dougherty and Steve Webster to their first European Tour wins this season.

“I’m not going to go into what we do, but I have surrounded myself by people I believe in and feel comfortable with,” added Bjorn.

“Jamil has made me stronger in the way I approach everything on and off the course. I don’t think I have played a final round in a major with so many smiles on my face before.”

The one shot that really let him down was his second to the 554-yard last, pulled left into sand.

He was the only European to finish in the top 15 in the final major of the season, Lee Westwood’s 17th being next best.

Westwood came back today simply to make a 10-footer on the last for a 75 - desperately disappointing after starting the final round joint eighth.

He and fellow Nottinghamshire player Greg Owen took part in a Mexican wave as they returned. But for Owen it was even more of a round to forget.

When the Mansfield golfer missed from 14 feet he had to sign for an 80 that left him down in 47th spot.

Far from moving up in the world’s top 50 as he hoped, he has slipped from 68th to 70th.

As a consequence the US tour rookie does not qualify for this week’s NEC World Championship in Akron and since that counts for the European order of merit it would have helped him get closer to the 11 tournaments he has to play to remain a member.

So far he has appeared in just five and Owen left Baltusrol for a two-week break with his family saying it was “95%” certain that he would resign his membership – and that would means he does not qualify for Ryder Cup points when qualifying starts next month.

He could not be a wild card next year either unless he re-joins.