Thomas Bjorn was appointed as captain of Europes 2018 Ryder Cup team on Tuesday, a reward for his long and successful association with the event as a player and vice-captain as well as his commitment to the European Tour.The 45-year-old Dane became the first Scandinavian to lead the European team, which will look to regain the cup at Le Golf National in Paris in 2018 after its 17-11 loss to the United States at Hazeltine in October.I have lived and breathed the European Tour for so long, Bjorn said, and now I will do the same with the Ryder Cup for the next two years.Bjorn is held in high respect in European golf, having represented players interests in his role as chairman of the tours Tournament Committee since 2007. He has also won 17 titles worldwide since turning professional in 1993, including taking down Tiger Woods in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2001 when the American was at the height of his game.The Ryder Cup is close to Bjorns heart, having being on the winning side in all three of his appearances as a player -- in 1997, 2002 and 2014 -- and three out of four times as a vice-captain. The only loss was under Darren Clarke at Hazeltine.I saw first-hand what he was like as a vice-captain in 2010, and he was exceptional, said Colin Montgomerie, who led the European team to victory that year. I used him possibly more than any other vice-captain at Celtic Manor.He wears his heart on his sleeve and I think thats important for the role.Montgomerie spoke of Bjorns combustible and fiery nature, qualities that might fire up Europes players in the heat of Ryder Cup week. But serving as an assistant under four captains -- Bernhard Langer in 2004, Jose Maria Olazabal in 2012, as well as Montgomerie and Clarke -- will have given him valuable experience of the type of calculated decisions needed from a team leader.Clarke and Olazabal were on the five-man panel that selected the 2018 captain.I studied a lot of captains as a player and as a vice-captain and always wondered what that feeling would be like to be the one leading out a team of 12 great players, Bjorn said. Now its my turn to do just that.The Ryder Cup returns to mainland Europe for the first time since the 1997 match at Valderrama. Bjorn knows Le Golf National well, having played the French Open there on 14 occasions, finishing third in 2007.Europe has won the Ryder Cup the last five times it has been staged on European soil. Jerry Tillery Chargers Jersey . It might not have mattered. 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CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland -- Alex Noren of Sweden sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to beat Scott Hend of Australia in a playoff for the European Masters title on Sunday.Noren fired a 5-under round of 65 to be tied at 17 under with Hend, the overnight leader who carded a 66 on the Swiss Alps course.Playing the par-four 18th hole again in the playoff, Hend left his third shot from the fringe of the green well short before Norens no-doubter putt earned a 450,000 euros ($502,000) winners prize.It was a really fun day, said Noren, who won his sixth European Tour title on the same Swiss Alps course where his first came in 2009.In third place, Andrew Beef Johnston of England went 5 under on the inward nine holes to card a 65, trailing Noren and Hend by three.Lee Westwood was the best of Europes Ryder Cup players, firing a 7-under 63 to place fourth, five strokes back.Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion defending his title here, shot a 64 to finish tied for 12th place at 9 under.Noren, who is poised to rise from his No. 39 world ranking, also won in July at the Scottish Open and believes he can handle pressure better since his now six-month-old daughter was born.I have a baby girl now and that takes up a lot of my focus, said the 34-year-old Swede, whose family joined him in Switzerland this week. Its only golf. Its not my whole life anymore.Noren needed only 30 shoots for the outward nine, then dropped his first stroke at the par-4 10th.dddddddddddd Hend began a stretch of three birdies in four holes from the 12th to cut the Swedes lead to one shot.A three-putt by Noren at the 17th gave Hend a chance, which the Australian almost wasted on the 18th by pulling his tee shot left into the trees. Hend saved par to force the playoff as rain started to fall for the first time all week.On a standout day for Europes Ryder Cup players, Westwoods round edged 64s for fellow Englishmen Willett and Matt Fitzpatrick, the runner-up here last year who finished at 10 under.Westwood holed his own long putt on the 18th for a seventh birdie in a round with no dropped shots. Still, a first-round 72 on Thursday left the 1999 European Masters winner too far back to challenge.On the first day I was a bit rusty, Westwood acknowledged. I havent played much golf for four weeks before coming here.Westwood and Willett plan to play one more tournament before the Ryder Cup starts Sept. 30 at Hazeltine, Minnesota. Both will take one week off, then return at the Italian Open, played Sept. 15-18 at Monza.Im looking forward to another week off for practice and then to Italy, Willett said, after a round had begun with bogey-5s at the first two holes. ' ' '
