Bjorn positive despite dramatic collapse

Thomas Bjorn was the most unlikely candidate to join the list of players who have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in major championships.

The phlegmatic Dane had played the notorious back nine at Sandwich in level par in each of the two previous rounds, but he dropped four shots in the last four holes to hand the 132nd British Open to American rookie Ben Curtis on Sunday.

"I was standing on the 15th tee with one hand on the trophy and I let it go," he said. "But I've got to go on from here and, hopefully, there will be a major coming my way very shortly.

"There are a lot of good players who've lost major championships and a lot of guys out there who thought they could win this tournament and they didn't," he added.

"You might win one of them out of the blue, that's just the way it happens in majors."

Bjorn's demise, in which he took three shots to get out of a bunker next to the 16th green, evoked memories of Frenchman Jean Van de Velde's collapse in the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, and Greg Norman's capitulation to Nick Faldo in the 1996 U.S. Masters.

Despite picking up a two-shot penalty for hitting the sand with his club after failing to escape from a bunker during the first round, Bjorn led the tournament going into the final round at one under par and, after bogeying the first hole, he picked up three shots on the front nine to move to three under.

When he collected another birdie at the par-five 14th after Curtis had dropped four shots in quick succession Bjorn looked to have a first major championship in his grasp.

But he immediately bogeyed the 15th and then sent his drive at the short 16th into a bunker. His first shot reached the edge of the green before rolling gently back into the sand and he then played an almost identical stroke with the same result.

His fourth shot did stay on the putting surface and he bravely holed a six-foot putt to limit the damage to a double bogey.

Clearly rattled, the 32-year-old could then only bogey the 17th and, despite a brave attempt to make the birdie he needed at the last to force a playoff, his third shot finished inches from the hole.

Bjorn, a member of Europe's victorious Ryder Cup team last year, also finished runner-up in the 2000 British Open, but he tried to stay positive.

"I will take a lot of confidence out of this," he said.

Van de Velde took a three-shot lead into his final hole at Carnoustie four years ago but found water on the way to a triple-bogey that set up a playoff won by Briton Paul Lawrie.

Norman led by six shots going into the final round of the 1996 Masters, but the Australian wilted under the pressure as Faldo shot a superb 67 to win his third green jacket.

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