Singh's withdrawal gives Danish veteran a precious chance to challenge young guns

SANDWICH, United Kingdom, - Denmark's Thomas Bjorn has been handed a last-minute British Open lifeline to return to the scene of his tragic near-miss here eight years ago.

It was at Royal St George's in 2003 that the Ryder Cup stalwart had one hand on the Claret Jug as he led the Open by three strokes with just four holes to play only to suffer a meltdown that evoked memories of Frenchman Jean van de Velde at Carnoustie four year beforehand.

With victory in his sights, Bjorn inexplicably took three shots to get out of a greenside bunker at the 16th and then, shell-shocked, he bogeyed the next to hand victory to US debutant Ben Curtis.

It was a collapse that took its toll on the Dane, who subsequently saw his world ranking plummet and it looked like he would not qualify for the tournament's return to Sandwich this year until a rash of injuries cleared his path, the final one being that of Fiji's Vijay Singh on Monday.

The 40-year-old Bjorn said he was eager to seize the moment.

"I'm just delighted. You don't want to see players pull out, but since Sandwich I have missed some Opens and it makes you realize how much you want to play in them.

"The year after what happened here was difficult, but these are the events you want to be playing in. When I think back I just count myself lucky that I got myself in a position where I had a chance to win. Loads of people don't get that chance."

Singh followed Tiger Woods, Thomas Levet, Tim Clark and David Toms in pulling out of the event and Bjorn gets his opportunity because Australian Brendan Jones turned down the chance to step in because his wife is expecting.

The world No 80 will play the championship course and the fateful 16th again for the first time in practise on Tuesday and said: "When I get there I won't be thinking 'this is a horror hole' - it's a good hole.

"I just tried to erase it from my memory, but it might just creep into my mind on Sunday if I am playing well!

"You've really got a problem if you live eight years in the past. It was difficult for me when I played at Troon in 2004 - I really didn't want to be there - but these are the events you want to play in and I'm delighted.

"At the same time, though, there's some big names who have pulled out and you don't want to see that."

Bjorn will tee off at 7:25 am on Thursday with England's Simon Dyson - he was another of the reserves called in - and American Gary Woodland.

Curtis, the man who benefitted most from Bjorn's collapse that day eight years ago, said he and Bjorn had met several times since the drama of that day but that what happened was seldom the topic of conversation.

"I played with him a few times since then and we played together at the World Matchplay, the year I think he beat me in the semis," he said.

"We talked a little bit about it, but I'm not going to say anything to him about what happened. You don't wish that upon anybody.

"It's just a terrible thing that's happened to him, but he's moved on and he's played quite well since then."

Curtis believes his own chances are as slim as they were in 2003 when he was a 300-1 outsider, but he hopes that some of the magic of the Royal St George's links can rub off on him again.

"It definitely gives you a little bit of confidence because you know you've done it before, and there's no reason why you can't do it again," he said.

"I just hope this is my week. But I'm not going to think about holding that trophy yet. Hopefully when the last putt is holed on Sunday it will be coming my way, but we'll see."

Reuters