Relaxed Bjorn is enjoying himself
Web posted
Sunday, April 10, 2005
He put together one of the best days of his career Saturday but found himself admiring the two guys ahead of him on the Masters Tournament leaderboard.
Bjorn finished the second round with two eagles on the back nine and tied his course best with 67. He then played the first nine holes of the third round at 2-under par, but finds himself looking up to Chris DiMarco and Tiger Woods heading into today.
"I can only say that if Chris plays the way he is, he's going to be difficult to beat," Bjorn said. "I said that before, and that's going to be for anybody. Tiger is Tiger, and when he gets on those kind of runs, then we never know what's going to happen."
Bjorn is five strokes behind DiMarco, who is 13-under, and one behind Woods, who is 9-under, with nine holes remaining in the third round.
"I've got to say I played pretty much as good as I would like to around here," said Bjorn, a native of Silkeborg, Denmark, who has never finished higher than a tie for 18th at the Masters. "I'm hitting the ball very solid. So you can say, you've got guys around making it happen, and I think this is where you want to be and this is what you want to do. I'm very happy with my golf."
Bjorn knows what it's like to go up against Woods in the final round of a major.
He tied for second behind Woods at the 2000 British Open, where Woods blew away the field by eight strokes.
The next year, Bjorn held off Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic, winning by two strokes on the final hole.
"I've also beaten him, but that's a different story," he said. "I know what the guy is capable of, and when he plays like that, you've just got to enjoy watching."
Bjorn also tied for second at the British Open in 2003, just one shot behind Ben Curtis.
"I have to say that this is probably the first time in a major championship where I actually feel ... that I'm really enjoying myself," Bjorn said. "I always thought before it was such hard work, and now I enjoy myself. I think that might be the key to actually playing well."
Bjorn blistered the back nine of the second round, making eagles on Nos. 13 and 15 on his way to a second-round 67, which equaled his second-round score in 2002.
On No. 13, Bjorn said he hit a driver and what he called "a utility thing" to about 3 feet.
On No. 15, he hit a driver and a 4-iron to less than 1 foot from the hole.
"They were quite simple eagles," Bjorn said between rounds.
He continued his strong play in the third round with birdies on Nos. 1 and 3 to go to 8-under, but he bogeyed No. 7 before a birdie on No. 8 helped him finish with 34 on the front nine.
"At the moment, I'm playing really well," he said. "It's nice to see your name there, but, I mean, there's 27 holes to go in this golf tournament.
"We know when this tournament starts, so there's another 18 holes to go before the tournament starts. So just get yourself in position and then see what can happen."
