The star is scheduled to be a vice captain for the European Ryder Cup team next year at Bethpage.
Yes, Thomas Bjorn was pleased with a 71 on Thursday, one that put him just a few shots off the lead after the opening round of play at the Senior Open at Carnoustie.
But while Bjorn’s productivity in difficult conditions gave him reason to smile, the recent honors bestowed on him are what truly had him appreciative.
Bjorn, Paul McGinley and Miguel Angel Jimenez were all granted honorary life memberships to the DP World Tour on Wednesday, raising the total number of golfers with that status to 62.
“Honorary life membership is recognition for those who have contributed so much to the tour both inside and outside the ropes,” said Guy Kinnings, the DP World Tour’s CEO. “These three players have given everything to the tour and have shaped the tour with both their play and their personalities.”
Bjorn, who has 15 European Tour wins to his credit, is scheduled to be a vice captain for the European Ryder Cup team next year at Bethpage. He said the honor is one that has hit him hard.
“It’s humbling in a lot of ways. You know, when you set out on a career, you have your hopes and dreams about where it’s going to go, and mind far exceeded anything I’ve ever dreamed of in my career, and I’ve been around for a long time. I love that tour, you know, what was The European Tour, what is the DP World Tour,” he said. “I love everything about that tour, and it’s given me a life. It’s given me an unbelievable way of seeing the world and doing things, and you know, I’ve dedicated a lot of time to the tour in my time, as well, and to get that recognition from your board and from people around the tour is humbling, and it’s something I’ll treasure a lot.
“I think when you know you’re coming to the end of your career in some way, it’s nice that you can look back at things and say, well, you know, I did a lot, or I dedicated a lot to the tour; and it’s not in my world — it’s not for my achievements on the golf course. It’s a lot more for the things I’ve done off the golf course and for the tour.
“So yeah, humbling experience but happy.”
Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, pictured here on April 9, 2024, is named as Luke Donald’s second European 2025 Ryder Cup Vice Captain at IMG Studios on April 16, 2024, in London, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
On Thursday, Bjorn posted a pair of bogeys and a birdie on the front but played clean on the way home en route to a 34 that put his three shots behind leader Stephen Ames. Since Bjorn had thumb issues early in the week and needed an injection to play — skipping a practice round — Thursday’s score only served as a cherry on top of Wednesday’s announcement.
“Got out there and just tried to make pars to be honest with you, just get myself around the golf course. It’s better than it’s been, so that’s a lovely round to have in the bank, really,” he said.
“For me, where I was yesterday, could only go around wrong if I played. It was nice to get through it. So try and build from here and get a little bit better.”
The European Ryder Cup team continues to run it back.
On Tuesday, Luke Donald named Thomas Bjorn as his second Vice Captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York from Sept. 26-28, 2025. Bjorn was a Vice Captain on Donald’s 2023 squad that beat the Americans 16½-11½ in Rome, Italy. It will be his sixth time as a Vice Captain in the biennial contest and 10th time overall he has been a part of Team Europe, including in 2018 when he was the captain for the European victory in Paris.
“It was a natural progression from last time,” Bjorn said. “Luke called me and said he wanted me to carry on into New York, understanding that it’s going to be a completely different Ryder Cup in 2025 at Bethpage. We had some conversations back and forth mostly about how to go from the victory in Rome and into a new set up for New York, debriefing on what happened in Rome and how we carry it forward.”
Bjorn, 53, is Donald’s second selection as Vice Captain. Edoardo Molinari, who was appointed in January, was the first.
“I am very excited to have Thomas back on the team,” Donald said. “Once I was appointed as Captain again, my thoughts quickly went to who I wanted to have in the backroom staff. And Thomas certainly was one of those. He means a lot to me. He’s passed on his knowledge and I’ve had a great relationship with him over the last few years. To have those relationships, to enjoy the people you’re spending time with along that journey is really important.”
As a player, he was part of three European victories in 1997, 2002 and 2014. Now, he’s back on Donald’s squad as the Europeans look to have similar success next year on American soil.
“We had a fantastic environment in Rome,” Bjorn said. “Luke did an amazing job. He was a fantastic leader, not just of 12 players, but of the whole Ryder Cup Europe team that worked so hard behind the scenes. It was amazing for me to be part of that because I knew how all of those things worked from Paris. To see how he added a few extra things in Rome and made it even better was amazing and I was very proud of him. He was exceptional.”
The former Duke player is now busy crisscrossing the globe making history in the commentary box.
Alison Whitaker was having lunch on her birthday in China at a Ladies European Tour event when someone from the television crew asked if she’d be interested in filling in during the coverage later that day.
The affable Aussie said sure, she’d love to. The crew member went on to explain that ideally, they’d like to have a European voice. Whitaker said no worries, she’d be around for another 40 minutes in player dining if they couldn’t find a better option. Either way, no hard feelings.
“Lucky for me, they didn’t find anyone,” Whitaker said with a laugh. By the end of the day, she’d been offered a contract for the following season.
That was a decade ago, and now Whitaker, the former Duke player with the razor-sharp mind and infectious personality, is busy crisscrossing the globe making history in the commentary box.
LPGA Hall of Fame player and television trailblazer Judy Rankin calls Whitaker the most versatile person in broadcasting. She can walk the fairways as an on-course reporter and serve as both an analyst and lead host – sometimes in the same week.
Whitaker, 38, will be in the booth at this week’s Blue Bay LPGA event in China but does most of her work in the men’s game on the DP World Tour and is mostly off-camera, making her a sneaky low-profile TV personality.
“She’s tremendous,” said Rankin, adding that “here, she’s definitely under the radar except for the true golf junkies who watch a lot of the European Tour and so on.”
Whitaker made it to Durham, North Carolina, via a 2005 American summer tour that culminated in a semifinal appearance at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she beat future LPGA players Ryann O’Toole, Maria Uribe and Amanda Blumenherst before falling to finalist Maru Martinez.
Alison Whitaker played for Duke from 2006 to 2010. (courtesy Duke athletics)
When Whitaker arrived at Duke, the mood of the team lightened, recalled Blumenherst. She’d be the one printing out the lyrics to the “Little Mermaid” to bring in the team van. When Blumenherst played her last competitive round at the Evian Championship 11 years ago, Whitaker was there on the last hole to give her a hug.
Blumenherst was actually working for the Golf Channel on set when she first heard Whitaker’s voice on a broadcast. She watched as someone hit a thin shot out of a bunker that caught the top edge, prompting Whitaker to say, “Oh, those lips don’t lie.”
Right from the start, Blumenherst said, it seemed Whitaker belonged on television.
At one point this season, it looked like Whitaker might be on the road working events for 17 straight weeks. She deleted a few in the middle so she’d remember where to put the coffee mugs at her home in Melbourne. She’ll typically work five to seven weeks in a row and then have a couple off.
Saying yes to television was made rather easy given that she’d been battling glandular fever and vertigo as a touring pro. Plus, she absolutely loved it, noting that her work ethic exploded.
For many former players in the commentary world, television feels like the next stage. But for Whitaker, professional golf felt more like the lead-up to what she was meant to be doing.
When Whitaker first got recruited to work on the LET, she was in her late 20s, which was young for the time. After working the LPGA’s Asian swing and some of the men’s and women’s events in Australia, Whitaker started covering the DP World Tour for European Tour Productions, which provides the world feed for Golf Channel and Sky Sports, among others.
“She’s the most conscientious, diligent person I’ve ever come across,” said booth mate Tony Johnstone. “I think she’s surrounded by more laptops than when they put Apollo on the moon.”
Covering the men’s game meant that Whitaker had a lot to learn in a short amount of time, given that playing professional golf on a women’s tour leaves little time to watch the men.
Sitting next to men in the commentary box who had witnessed something firsthand that Whitaker had only read about drove her to work the range and talk to as many people as possible.
Even so, it was deeply intimidating.
“You kind of just have to make sure you fill your shoes with a little bit of self-belief,” said Whitaker, “which is so much harder than people would think when you’re sitting down the row from Nick Faldo and Trevor Immelmann, and I’m just trying to convince myself to talk.”
That’s where Whitaker’s strong sense of humor comes into play. She has learned to laugh about mistakes and give herself a bit of grace. When it comes to the naysayers online, her family provides some levity, particularly when bad grammar and typos are involved.
“Like many women in men’s realms, especially in sport, I’ve got a healthy dose of imposter syndrome,” said Whitaker, “which I’m trying to get in check, but at the same time it fuels me.”
Alison Whitaker and Iona Stephen pose for a picture at the TV compound. (courtesy photo)
Iona Stephen’s first memory of meeting Whitaker was at the 2019 BMW PGA Championship while working for Golfing World. Whitaker warmly introduced herself, and they sat down for a drink. Right from the start, Stephen felt this was a woman she could trust.
Fast forward to the global pandemic, when Stephen was early into her work as an on-course reporter covering the DP World Tour and tasked with interviewing some of the biggest names in golf – live. It was a tough time learning a new business during the isolated era of Covid, but as luck would have it, Stephen was in a shared accommodation space with Whitaker that week. Stephen grabbed a decorative shell and used it as a pretend microphone as she conducted mock interviews with Whitaker until midnight.
“I’ll never forget that,” said a grateful Stephen.
Whitaker started working the lead of men’s broadcasts toward the end of 2020. With little advice to go on, she dove in, unaware of all the ways she’d soon be making history.
In addition to working as the lead host covering on the DP World Tour on a consistent basis, Whitaker became the first female lead at the Open Championship three years ago at Royal St. George’s for the world feed, as well as at the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Last year, she was the first female lead on a men’s major for Sky Sports at the PGA Championship.
David Mould, director of live television at the European Tour Group, said Whitaker is also the first person on the world feed to work as both a lead host and analyst, which she does for the DP World Tour’s high-profile Rolex Series events.
“I don’t think Alison realizes how good she is,” said Mould, “and maybe that’s a good thing because it drives her forward to try and be better.”
Whitaker is humble about the history and mostly wants to help other women join her on course and in the booth. She’s open to sharing all of her tricks and tips. And when the pressure gets to be too much, as it invariably does in a profession in which mistakes are amplified, she’s the first to offer those in her small girl gang a hug.
“The environment when I got into it was very competitive because there wasn’t enough room for more women,” said Whitaker. “It felt like there was one woman on each crew and everyone was quite defensive of their patch.”
She describes Thomas Bjorn as her security bear. He’s quick to make sure everyone is taken care of, she said, and will march into any room to make things happen. He’s even fought a few battles for Whitaker, just so she doesn’t have to.
“When you hang out with him, you can see why so many guys respect him and look to him as a leader,” she said. “I got to know that more after his Ryder Cup captaincy when I started to work with him more. He just gets things so right, and he takes care of you.”
Whitaker often works broadcasts without ever being seen on camera. (courtesy photo)
The team environment means much to Whitaker, a noted foodie and wine expert who can direct pals to brilliant food haunts around the world.
Whitaker notes that Scotland’s Ken Brown has a contagious laugh that can heard buildings over. He presented her a watercolor for Christmas – someone pulling a sleigh down a snowy street – and it became an instant treasure.
Richard Kaufman and Kate Burton were early mentors as she started covering the LET. Her goal every day was to find something that Kaufman didn’t know.
At the 2015 Solheim Cup, Whitaker sat in a box with Burton, who was working lead for the first time. At the end of the first day, Burton asked Whitaker to give her one thing she liked, and one thing she could work on for the next day. Learning how to take feedback is very hard to do, Burton explained, but it’s the only way to get better.
“What a massive lesson to learn,” said Whitaker. “Between the two of them, I got work ethic, and the secrets on how to try and improve.”
Of course, Whitaker’s favorite stories to tell are the ones when things didn’t go as planned. Like the time the air-conditioner died during the Joburg Open in South Africa and they had to put their phones in the fridge before finishing up a Sky Sports interview. Not to mention the black mamba curled up under the portable toilet.
“I hope to have a career of that,” said Whitaker. “I don’t want it to be too polished.”
Stenson’s announcement now raises the question: who’s next to step into the captaincy for the Euros? Ryder Cup stalwarts and LIV golfers Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia are all most likely out of the question due to their status on the upstart circuit that’s long been criticized as a way for the Saudi government to sportswash its human rights record.
European legends like Bernhard Langer and Nick Faldo have most likely aged out of the role, so who does that leave? Here are some options for the 2023 Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy.
Bjorn was the winning captain for Team Europe in 2018 in France.
Henrik Stenson will have at least one experienced, victorious Ryder Cup captain by his side in Italy next year.
The 2023 European Ryder Cup captain announced on Wednesday that Thomas Bjorn will serves as his first vice captain at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome, Italy from Sept. 30-Oct 1, 2023.
“I have known Thomas for my whole career,” said Stenson in a press release. “I trust him implicitly and I know any advice he will give me will be honest and direct. He will not simply tell me what he thinks I want to hear and that will be important, so I’m delighted to have him as my first vice captain for Rome.”
Bjørn, a 51-year-old native of Denmark and 15-time winner on the DP World Tour, has been involved in Team Europe in eight previous editions of the biennial contest – three as a player, four as a vice captain and as the victorious captain in Paris in 2018.
“He was very happy when I asked him. He was very honored to be asked and happy to be part of Team Europe again and part of the journey with the players,” Stenson said. “Since the match itself is still over a year away, I know I am going to have a lot of conversations with him about all elements of the Ryder Cup from his experience, both as a vice captain on previous occasions but also, obviously, as the captain in 2018 when we had a great result. I will be depending on him a lot and I’m really looking forward to those chats.”
Stenson was one of Bjørn’s 12 players in that successful team at Le Golf National and the Swede has confirmed his fellow Scandinavian as his first official appointment since he was unveiled as European Captain on March 15.
“I’m delighted to be part of the whole Ryder Cup experience once again. I probably thought that after 2018 that was it for me, but Henrik called me to talk about captaincy in general and that led into him asking me if I wanted to do another stint as vice captain, which I agreed to,” Bjorn said. “I think I can help Henrik outline what he wants to do with his captaincy going forwards. I can keep asking him the right questions and reminding him of things that are going to come his way that he might not have thought about. I will help him prepare in the best possible way and as we get closer to the match, to be an additional support to the players.
“I think Henrik will be a fantastic captain. He is so well respected by players and by everyone in the game. He is a very hard-working golfer and somebody who is true to himself, and his team will represent that. He has a great sense of humor that the players will take to, and he is very well liked across the whole Tour, not just the top where he has played his golf for so many years.”
Team Europe’s Henrik Stenson celebrates after winning the 42nd Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in France in 2018. (Photo: David Davies/PA Wire)
Bjørn became the first Dane to represent Europe in the Ryder Cup in 1997 at Valderrama. He is no stranger to being a part of Team Europe’s backroom, having served on four previous occasions: to Bernhard Langer at Oakland Hills in 2004, then Colin Montgomerie at The Celtic Manor Resort in 2010, José María Olazábal at Medinah in 2012 and Darren Clarke in 2016 at Hazeltine National, which was his lone experience with defeat.
Bjørn oversaw a dominant 17½-10½ victory in France, with Stenson contributing three points from his three matches as Europe extended its unbeaten home record to six consecutive editions dating back to Bjørn’s debut in 1997.
Team Europe will be seeking to regain the Ryder Cup against the United States team which will be led by Zach Johnson, who has named Steve Stricker, the victorious 2020 U.S. Captain, as his own first vice captain.
Bjorn, the European Tour captain in 2018, is set to walk from Wentworth in England to Celtic Manor in Wales to raise funds for good causes.
Thomas Bjørn, Team Europe’s winning captain at the 2018 Ryder Cup, plans to do a 130-mile four-day charity walk from #Wentworth2Wales to raise funds for Unicef UK’s Save Generation Covid appeal and the Golf Foundation as part of the European Tour’s #GolfforGood initiative.
Bjørn will carry the Ryder Cup from the European Tour’s Headquarters at Wentworth Club in Surrey to the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, which will host two consecutive European Tour events as part of the new UK Swing.
The 49-year-old Dane will set off from Wentworth Club on Aug. 13, the first day of The Celtic Classic, and plans to arrive at Celtic Manor on Sunday, Aug. 16, the final day of the tournament. He will then compete in the second tournament to be held at the Celtic Manor Resort, the ISPS Handa Wales Open, on the Twenty Ten Course where Europe memorably defeated the United States 14½-13½ ten years ago.
Bjørn was one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice captains on that occasion and the 15-time European Tour winner went on to lead Europe in another memorable Ryder Cup victory in 2018 when his 12-man team won 17½-10½ at Le Golf National in France.
Captain Thomas Bjorn holds The Ryder Cup following the singles matches of the 2018 Ryder Cup at Le Golf National in Paris, France. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Bjorn is raising money for Unicef UK and the Golf Foundation, two causes which have special significance for Bjørn, while he also intends to raise awareness of the health and wellness benefits that can be achieved through golf.
Donations for the #Wentworth2Wales walk can be made here.
“Like so many fundraising ideas, this all started as a throwaway comment which quickly grew into something which is now very real and, to be honest, quite scary,” Bjørn said. “During lockdown I had started going on some long walks to regain a bit of fitness and also because I find it relieves a lot of mental stress for me. It was around the same time that Captain Tom, now Sir Tom Moore, was doing his incredible walk for the NHS and someone called me ‘Ryder Cup Captain Tom’. We had a bit of a laugh about it but the more I looked at Sir Tom the more I was genuinely inspired by what he was doing so we came up with the idea of doing a fundraising walk of our own.
“We looked at potential routes and Wentworth to Wales made a lot of sense, although I have to admit I didn’t realize it was over 200 (kilometers)! It’s going to be very tough to do it in four days but I suppose the whole point of doing it is that it’s not meant to be easy. If I am going to ask people to donate their hard-earned cash then I need to earn that donation. For me, walking between 10-12 hours a day for four consecutive days will push me to the limit.
“As a Dane who has lived most of my adult life in the UK I wanted to give something back both globally and locally and I feel that UNICEF’s Save Generation Covid appeal and the Golf Foundation are a perfect fit for that.
“Obviously I want to raise as much as possible but no matter how much it is, hopefully it can raise awareness and help kids around the world.”
Rory McIlroy and 13 other European Tour players thanked the essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic with a heartfelt video.
“I am not your hero.”
That was the message a handful of European Tour players wanted to relay to their fans and followers on Saturday night.
Message received, gentlemen. Loud and clear.
The tour released a video on social media sure to tug at your heartstrings, with 14 players thanking “the essential workers we all take for granted” for their efforts during the coronavirus pandemic.
The players thanked everyone from healthcare professionals to social workers and shop workers to food producers and pleaded for fans to follow the advice of the World Health Organization and respective governments around the world to stay home.
“If we do that, we can save lives and become heroes,” Rory McIlroy said to end the video.
The video included appearances from: McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Shane Lowry, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Thomas Bjorn, Victor Perez, Charl Schwartzel, Padraig Harrington, Justin Rose and Jon Rahm.
Paul Azinger’s controversial comments on the European Tour didn’t go unnoticed by 2018 Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn.
There’s nothing more entertaining than a golf Twitter spat that gets blood boiling more than six months before the Ryder Cup. Thanks to a few comments by NBC’s Paul Azinger that have been ripped apart over the last 48 hours, we’ve got ourselves some drama that now includes some shade thrown by 2018 Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn.
Bjorn tweeted Monday, “Looking forward to watching @F_Molinari defending the biggest win of his career this week at Bay Hill…”
He was referring to Francesco Molinari’s 2019 victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational that was capped by a 43-foot, 9-inch birdie putt on the 72nd hole. But of course, he wasn’t really applauding the win as the biggest of Molinari’s career.
Molinari won the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie, becoming the first Italian player to win a major championship. And that of course gets back to Azinger’s rub against the European Tour.
The tweet and the intent was not lost on Molinari’s brother, Edoardo. “We need more Thomas Bjorn in the world!” he tweeted in response.
It all makes for some great fodder as we count down the days to Whistling Straits.
