Thomas Bjorn on Europe’s four point lead: let’s keep going and keep focusing

After setting up a 10-6 lead following the second day of the Ryder Cup, European Captain Thomas Bjorn wants his team to refocus on what’s ahead

Wary of what happened in Brookline (The USA came back from a 10-6 defecit to win) and Medinah (Europe overturned a 10-6 defecit to win), European Ryder Cup Captain Bjorn is keen to make sure his team doesn’t become complacent. 

His side became the first European team in history to complete a whitewash in foursomes matches on Friday afternoon to end the first day 5-3, before adding five more points on Saturday to head in to the singles matches with a four point advantage. 

The American’s seemed rattled as Europe responded to their 4-0 foursomes win on Friday with an explosive Saturday fourballs, claiming three of the four points available as Rory McIlroy and Sergio Garcia took down Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau (2&1), Paul Casey and Tyrrell Hatton beat Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler (3&2), and Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari defeated Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed (4&3). The only U.S side to win were Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, who took the only American point of the morning with a 2&1 win over Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm. 

The afternoon foursomes were more evenly matched however, with the two sides claiming two points apiece. Successful European Ryder Cup pairing Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose took down the ‘Bash Bro’s DJ and Koepka, while Molinari and Fleetwood became the first European duo in history to win all four matches in a Ryder Cup with their 5&4 defeat over Woods and Bryson DeChambeau.   

For the Americans, Thomas and Spieth made it three wins from four with a 4&3 victory over Poulter and McIlroy, while Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson teamed up to take down Garcia and Alex Noren 3&2. 

And while the end tally of 10 points to 6 proved nice reading for Bjorn, he is all to well aware of what can happen in singles matches, and is keen that his side remain determined to win back the Ryder Cup. 

“We’ve got to take all that in, and you look at Brookline, Medinah, plenty of examples of these score lines not meaning a lot until you get to singles,” Bjorn said after the end of Saturday’s matches. “Just keep going. Keep going hard, keep going with what we’ve got, and you know, I’ve seen too many times what the singles does.

“It’s a completely different game tomorrow and that makes a lot of refocusing and getting back into that team room and recover. We used a lot of energy these days. We go again tomorrow. Try and focus on what’s ahead.

“They have been great at really focusing between matches and get back out there and deliver. You know, I really thought that 2-2 this afternoon was something that would be really good for us. It was something that when we started those foursomes, I felt like, if we can come out of this with 2-2, it would be a good place for us to be.

“So they are very good at refocusing. When I had the conversations with them after their matches now, that’s the first thing they all say, let’s keep going and keep focusing on what’s ahead tomorrow.

“We need every single man on the golf course to do their bit, and we’ve got to get out there and really, really, really play hard and be determined to win this back. When you look at those 12 American names, that’s a strong lineup. So it can go any way, but really, really, really happy with how it’s gone these first two days.”