Bjorn survives marathon at Gleneagles
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2011 Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles | Wrap | 29 Aug 2011
Thomas Bjorn today won his second tournament of 2011 but in order to do so he had to survive a five way playoff lasting five holes before a birdie at the par five 18th hole at the Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel secured the Johnnie Walker Championship title.
This season has been a mixed bag for the 40 year old Dane, a win at the Qatar Masters, a 4th place at the Open Championship and now this victory surrounded by some rather indifferent efforts. This week’s field however was nowhere near the strength he has faced in recent weeks, his last three tournaments being The Open, the WGC Bridgestone and the PGA Championships.
“I didn’t really see that coming after my two weeks in America,” Bjorn told European Tour. “But I played nicely this week. I played fantastic on Thursday and I played great today.
“I didn’t putt the best and probably should have done better than I did today. In the end, it was all down to Mark’s mistake really on the last, but that happens in golf.
“And what we were doing now, five guys in a playoff, you’re probably as relaxed as you’ll ever be in a playoff, because a lot of things have got to go right for it to go your way.
“But the way I played the last three playoff holes, I can’t be more proud of what I did.”
The mistake he was referring to by England’s Mark Foster was a bogey at the par five 18th hole of regulation play.
It was then that Bjorn, Foster, South Africa’s George Coetzee, Austria’s Bernd Weisberger and Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal headed to the 18th again for what would be the first of five playoff holes to decide the winner. Weisberger dropped out at the first, Larrazabal at the 2nd, and Foster at the 4th before Bjorn birdied the 5th to edge out Coetzee.
Stephen Gallacher and Joel Sjoholm finished just one shot from the playoff.
Andrew Dodt finished as the leading Australasian in 44th position, the Queenslander the only one to make the cut.
The European Tour will now head to Switzerland for this week’s Omega European Masters.
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