Major Championship success has proved elusive so far for Thomas, although he twice finished tied second at The Open Championship between 2000 and 2003, and occupied a place in the Major record books for tying the lowest round in Major history, until Branden Grace’s recent 62 at The Open, thanks to a sublime 63 at the 2005 US PGA Championship, where the Silkeborg native also went on to finish tied second.
After a three year wait for his next win, Bjørn showed all of his class to win two big events - the Daily Telegraph Dunlop Masters and Nissan Irish Open, in 2005 and 2006 respectively.
Four years passed between Bjørn’s win in Ireland and his Estoril Open de Portugal success in 2010 – but once the European legend had that winning feeling again, he made sure he felt it a lot over the following year, with the Dane producing what was arguably the best golf of his glittering career in 2011.
Three wins arrived that year, firstly at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters and then at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where Thomas prevailed in a five man play-off at the fifth extra hole. However, his most impressive win that year was saved for the 2011 Omega European Masters, where Bjørn birdied his final three holes to card a winning closing round of 62.
The beautiful Swiss mountains would be the scene for Bjørn’s next win, with Thomas back in the winner’s red jacket again in Crans Montana in 2013 after finishing with his second winning total of 20 under par in three years.
A 15th European Tour win and the biggest cheque of his career came the following year at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, where Thomas produced a stunning fourth round 65, which featured two back nine eagles, to overcome Sergio Garcia on a dramatic final day at Sun City.
Reflecting on yet another win, 18 years after his first European Tour victory at the Loch Lomond World Invitational, Bjørn said:
"This is right up there with the best days of my career. You never forget your first victory, and then my win against Tiger in Dubai when I went toe-to-toe with him for four days and came out top was special, but winning here in the way that I did against a field of this quality is up there.”
Thomas continued to play a significant part in creating a strong European Ryder Cup legacy, going on to play in his third winning Ryder Cup team in 2014 at Gleneagles, as well vice-captaining on four separate occasions – with three of those events seeing more European celebrations and glory.
Not only has Bjørn shown time and again that he knows what it takes to get across the finishing line and win on the European Tour, he has also shown remarkable consistency, finishing in the top 15 of the season-long standings 11 times in his first 12 full seasons on the European Tour, with the Dane going on to finish in the top ten of the Race to Dubai eight times in his career to date.
The man known for possessing a sharp sense of humour, which has long made him one of the most popular players on tour, was also elected Chairman of the European Tour's tournament committee in 2007, a role which saw Thomas play a major part in the continued development of the tour he holds so dearly to his heart.
And ‘The Great Dane’ is far from done - he has another huge Ryder Cup occasion to look forward to next year at Le Golf National, after being named as Europe’s Ryder Cup Captain for the 2018 edition of golf’s finest team event.
So after everything he’s achieved in the game and everything he’s done for the European Tour, we couldn’t think of a better way for Bjørn to mark his 500th event, than in front of his adoring Danish fans here at Himmerland, the scene of his first professional win.
