Bjorn does not mince his words

Thomas Bjorn is not the sort of guy to sit on a fence. Ask him a straight question, he'll give you a straight answer.

No embellishments, no unnecessary nuances. So, yesterday, on the eve of the BMW Championship, a tournament he holds dear to his heart, it's likely that an absent friend, on the other side of the Atlantic, had his ears burning intensely as the Dane spoke of his non-appearance.

Without naming names, but with the arrows firmly aimed at Sergio Garcia, Bjorn didn't mince his words. The question was tame enough, but it allowed Bjorn to have his say. Do you think it's the duty of European Tour players to support this event?

"I think any European-born player should play in this golf tournament. I can't say it any more clearly than that . . . for them to give one week a year, to come back and play this golf tournament, should be their duty, because the European Tour has done more for them than they think."

This is Garcia's fifth successive year to miss out on what, if not in name, is the PGA Championship. "It's not a major," conceded Bjorn," but it is our biggest tournament on the European Tour."

Garcia's stay-away policy has been in vogue since he finished fifth here in 2000 and, given that he has regained the position of top-ranked European golfer in the world rankings, the Spaniard's continued absence is all the more conspicuous.

"You know," continued Bjorn, "it's any player's right to do whatever they want. They look after their own golf careers and they do whatever they think is best for them. The tour can't, and the players' can't, start pressurising them to play. That's their decision. But this tour is here, and it's here to stay.

"We will stick together as a tour. And you're either part of it, or you're not. It's as simple as that. If you're part of it, you come and play. If you don't show any interest, well don't expect the tour and the rest of the players that play on this tour to show any interest in them. The guys that come back every blue moon and think they can start changing the tour around, well, we don't need them."

He added that players who don't return from the US to play shouldn't "expect any favours when it comes to the Ryder Cup. If you can't come back once every year and play in this golf tournament".

Bjorn's last task in competition was to hole a putt to win a tournament, the British Masters at the Forest of Arden two weeks ago. That victory ended a drought of almost three years, during which time he had to contend with demons. He lost a British Open (2003) he should have won, and walked off the course after six holes of his first round in last year's European Open.

"I'm obviously happy with what happened a couple of weeks ago. It (the win) was a long time coming. It's important for any player to win golf tournaments and know that they have that feeling inside of them and know that they can stand up when they need to and hit good shots.

"Even this week, a lot of guys have come up to me and said, 'welcome back'. (But) I don't really feel like I've been gone. I just haven't won tournaments. And being gone is when you don't compete in tournaments."