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In the Ryder Cup aftermath, all we’ve heard so far is about infighting and unhappiness emanating from the teamroom of USA.
But Thomas Bjorn has revealed that on Saturday evening, despite Europe’s commanding 10-6 lead, he had an unhappy player in his teamroom: Jon Rahm.
Speaking ahead of the Andalucia Valderrama Masters, the Dane said the 23-year-old wasn’t best pleased with his lack of action, having only featured in two of the four sessions at that point.
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“I was well aware that Jon was not happy with the situation,” said Bjorn. “He came in with it clear in his mind that he was thinking about playing five matches.
“To be honest, that was probably also where I saw him and things just kind of developed a little bit in a different direction.
“He was definitely disappointed on Saturday evening but the one thing that Jon realised during this Ryder Cup is that it was very much about the team, and he very much got into the understanding that it doesn’t really matter what the individuals do as long as the right numbers show on the top left of the TV screen.”
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Rahm was beaten in both fourball sessions that he played – alongside Justin Rose on Friday and Ian Poulter on Saturday – and was drawn against Tiger Woods in Sunday’s singles.
Enter Bjorn, who told reporters at Valderrama what he said to the Spaniard to gee him up ahead of the showdown.
“On Saturday evening, when the draw came out, I said to him: ‘I put you up against the best player that has ever played in time, so here is your greatest opportunity. The Ryder Cup is about opportunities; it is not about what has happened but about the opportunity that lies in front of you. You go out and win that match tomorrow and you’ll never ever think about the first two days’.
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“He did [beating Woods 2&1], and that shows a lot about his character and what he is all about.”
It also shows a lot about the influence captain Bjorn had on the team that week.
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