England’s Simon Khan was in tears after a nagging back injury forced him out of today’s deciding Seve Trophy Singles.
Simon Khan ‘guttered’ to have to withdraw from final round of the Seve Trophy. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
Khan was due to compete against European rival Francesco Molinari but advised GB & I captain Sam Torrance he was not well enough to take his place on the St. Nom-la-Breteche course on the outskirts of Versailles.
It meant the Jose Maria Olazabal having to nominate a player on his side to withdraw and the name he had placed in an envelope in case of such a scenario was out-of-form Dane Thomas Bjorn.
The withdrawal of both Khan and Bjorn also saw the awarding of a half-a-point to each team so that the matches stood at 9 1/2 points all ahead of the first Singles match of Jamie Donaldson -v- Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano.
“I’m guttered as you work your whole career to come and play in team events,” said Khan who was this week making his Seve Trophy debut.
“I knew what to expect when I came into this week and how good it would be, and I am desperate to play the Ryder Cup one day.
“It’s not to you get here that you realise how much it means to everyone the Seve Trophy and the name behind the tournament. So not to play on the last day is really hard to take.
“The main thing is for the team to now go out and win as that would ease my own pain.
“My back wasn’t 100% the first two days of practice but it was then fine on the first day of competition but yesterday I felt something go when I was hitting balls on the range.
“I thought it would be okay but I could barely hit a wedge or a 9-iron, let alone something longer, so I had no chance.”
Khan instead will now support his team mates and he was already observed ‘wired’ with a walky talky out following the Tommy Fleetwood -v- Joost Luiten match.
Bjorn, who had not won any of his matches, was supportive of Khan.
“I feel like I would have found it very difficult if it had of been one of the youngsters coming out of that envelope as it would have broken their hearts,” said the Dane.
“I have played enough team golf to know how this sort of thing with the envelope works.
“I can deal with this and it is better that I have to than some of the youngsters in our team. These are the facts of it and we will go from there.”
