Thomas Bjørn, Team Europe’s winning captain at the 2018 Ryder Cup, plans to do a 130-mile four-day charity walk from #Wentworth2Wales to raise funds for Unicef UK’s Save Generation Covid appeal and the Golf Foundation as part of the European Tour’s #GolfforGood initiative.
Bjørn will carry the Ryder Cup from the European Tour’s Headquarters at Wentworth Club in Surrey to the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, which will host two consecutive European Tour events as part of the new UK Swing.
The 49-year-old Dane will set off from Wentworth Club on Aug. 13, the first day of The Celtic Classic, and plans to arrive at Celtic Manor on Sunday, Aug. 16, the final day of the tournament. He will then compete in the second tournament to be held at the Celtic Manor Resort, the ISPS Handa Wales Open, on the Twenty Ten Course where Europe memorably defeated the United States 14½-13½ ten years ago.
Bjørn was one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice captains on that occasion and the 15-time European Tour winner went on to lead Europe in another memorable Ryder Cup victory in 2018 when his 12-man team won 17½-10½ at Le Golf National in France.
Bjorn is raising money for Unicef UK and the Golf Foundation, two causes which have special significance for Bjørn, while he also intends to raise awareness of the health and wellness benefits that can be achieved through golf.
Donations for the #Wentworth2Wales walk can be made here.
“Like so many fundraising ideas, this all started as a throwaway comment which quickly grew into something which is now very real and, to be honest, quite scary,” Bjørn said. “During lockdown I had started going on some long walks to regain a bit of fitness and also because I find it relieves a lot of mental stress for me. It was around the same time that Captain Tom, now Sir Tom Moore, was doing his incredible walk for the NHS and someone called me ‘Ryder Cup Captain Tom’. We had a bit of a laugh about it but the more I looked at Sir Tom the more I was genuinely inspired by what he was doing so we came up with the idea of doing a fundraising walk of our own.
“We looked at potential routes and Wentworth to Wales made a lot of sense, although I have to admit I didn’t realize it was over 200 (kilometers)! It’s going to be very tough to do it in four days but I suppose the whole point of doing it is that it’s not meant to be easy. If I am going to ask people to donate their hard-earned cash then I need to earn that donation. For me, walking between 10-12 hours a day for four consecutive days will push me to the limit.
“As a Dane who has lived most of my adult life in the UK I wanted to give something back both globally and locally and I feel that UNICEF’s Save Generation Covid appeal and the Golf Foundation are a perfect fit for that.
“Obviously I want to raise as much as possible but no matter how much it is, hopefully it can raise awareness and help kids around the world.”
