“That must be a good thing!”: 15x DP World Tour winner Thomas Bjorn delays retirement after late heroics at Andalucia Masters

Until Friday's round, Thomas Bjorn assumed that the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucia Masters would be his final event. This came after he started the week with a 76 and was on the verge of missing the cut.

However, things turned in Bjorn's favor as the 52-year-old golfer went on to get a hat-trick of long-range birdies at the 16th, 17th and 18th late on day two to eventually score a 67. This led him to have a score of one under par to extend his event for two more rounds.

Thomas Bjorn's playing partner Alex Fitzpatrick praised him after comparing the 15-time DP World Tour winner's putting to Alex's Major-winning brother Mat Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick said:

"You’re putting like my brother"

Bjorn soon replied to the English professional golfer's statement:

"So that must be a good thing!"

“I rolled in some long putts on that back nine. I had a pretty bad bogey on the 15th and I thought that was pretty much it but managed to birdie the last three to sneak into the weekend. It’s always nice,” he added.

With the same form, the Dane then continued with rounds of 70 and 72 to finish T46 on three-under par.

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Thomas Bjorn was running out of exemption

After playing a full schedule throughout his long and illustrious DP World Tour career, Thomas Bjorn's exemption expires this season. The Andalucia Masters was, therefore, his last hope to keep playing professional golf.

Well, Bjorn had a very poor season this year. Out of 15 events that he participated in, he was unable to make the cut eight times. Moreover, he withdrew himself from the BMW International Open and Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

For the rest of his tournaments, his finishes were not up to the mark. So this was his final chance, which could have stopped him from delaying his retirement.

“I’m running out of exemption at the end of the year and this was going to be my last event on the exemption," Bjorn said.

“The only thing I was thinking about those last few holes was 28 seasons with a card out here and it was coming to an end. I had to give it a go and see if I could put a nice round together for that," he added.

Additionally, Thomas Bjorn voiced his unhappiness at only being able to win a few events despite having competed in several tournaments throughout his golfing career.

“I’ve played over 600 events in my career on this Tour and won 15 times, so that’s a lot of disappointment."