Thomas Bjørn has featured in seven Ryder Cups – three victorious times as a player and four as a vice-captain – and now the Dane, 47 this month, has the reins as captain. The Rolex ambassador talks to Kent Gray eight months out from the “all-consuming” 42nd matches at Le Golf National in Paris.

There’s nothing better as a player than walking down the 16th, 17th and 18th holes in a major championship if you have a chance to win, but The Ryder Cup brings that same feeling and pressure from the very first morning – it’s a unique atmosphere. When you get into a major championship you start to understand that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, and that’s what guys who have been successful in the majors over the years understand and are very good at.

[Nick] Faldo was one of the best in the world at this, he was always there with a chance to win because he wasn’t flamboyant, but was happy to plod along and be consistent. By Saturday afternoon, he had always put himself in a position to win and winning was something he was fantastic at doing. The Ryder Cup is like that from the very first morning.

It used to be that you would have eight certainties followed by four places between around 10 players but now there are hardly any certainties. I never look at anyone with a certainty, they have to play good golf, especially when the alternatives are so much better today than in years past. Today, the alternatives at the bottom are so good that if you fall off your game even a little bit, then there will be somebody there who can play the same golf as you, and maybe even better.

My message to players is that it’s not about making The Ryder Cup team, it’s about playing in The Ryder Cup. Looking back over the years, people are so keen to make the team, that they forget that from the day they qualify they have to play in it as well and it’s something you see on both sides. It’s a fantastic stage to play on but only when you are ready to play because it’s a horrible place to be if you’re not.

These guys [potential rookies] don’t know what decisions to make, in comparison to someone like Justin Rose, who knows what is going on and what he’s doing. I was talking to Justin in Turkey and I told him that I don’t care what happens from now until that first Friday morning, but when that day comes I want him to be ready to play. Who am I to interfere with someone like that? On the other hand, the younger players sometimes need some guidance and I’m not afraid to tell them that they might be making some strange decisions. In my experience, the best thing to do is have a quiet conversation with them and point out a potentially different choice they might make.

The younger players sometimes need some guidance and I’m not afraid to tell them that they might be making some strange decisions.

The players do get a Rolex watch and that’s one of those moments that makes The Ryder Cup so special. It usually happens on the Tuesday night when the captains – who are involved in choosing the watch – give them to the players. Getting that Rolex is such a special moment for the players as their names are engraved on the back and it’s amazing for some players who have built up a collection of watches from playing on Ryder Cup teams. It’s also amazing to see how far the Rolex Series has come and how much it has brought to the game on this side of the Atlantic. When you look back, you realise that Rolex has been involved in golf for 50 years, even going back to Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, guys who really set the scene for what golf is today and put the game in such a high esteem around the world.

In terms of how all-consuming the captaincy is, I really feel it’s on my mind 24/7, I even wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it. When I walk around the club here in Dubai, I see [Tyrrell] Hatton, and I see Sergio [Garcia], and my mind is on them, how they’re playing and how I can utilise them. A few months ago, I thought that I might play a few tournaments in December, but when I came off the 18th green at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa [early Nov.], I changed my mind and was glad not to be playing in December, because I have so many thoughts about the team.

Robert [Karlsson, 2018 Ryder Cup vice-captain] and I have a great relationship, he is fantastic for me, and I’ve told him a couple of things that I want him to do, especially working on the stats, and he’s been brilliant in that way because he’s calm, he’s well respected and we know each other well, but I’m going to take longer over my decisions for the four other vice-captains.

Sam Torrance was a fantastic captain but, unfortunately, he had a different captaincy than everybody else because of September 11th, which gave him an extra year to prepare [for 2002}. He got to spend so much time with us that he influenced us a lot more than we thought he did and that put a completely different perspective on the captaincy, but he really was fantastic. He was a motivator and he had the ability to make all 12 players feel like they were the best in the world. He probably didn’t have the greatest team, but he still managed to win against an American team that was extremely strong. I thought that his way of talking to people was amazing.

Paul McGinley transformed the captaincy in 2014 in the way he went into it in detail. He certainly spent a lot of time on becoming a manager. I thought Paul’s way of doing things was very much taken from a football perspective. I think he drove that very well but I think sometimes you have to be careful looking back on it because you can’t have the players every day, they’re not your players. For a football manager, that’s his team, they’re his players working for him and the club, but these golfers play for themselves all of the time, so you don’t have them in that same way.

I won’t try to be something that I’m not.

I don’t think I’m going to change [as captain]… We have a trust in each other and a belief in each other, and I won’t try to be something that I’m not. I want to try to create a good environment for the players. In every vice-captain’s role I’ve had, all I’ve wanted to do is support our 12 guys. I had no agenda for myself and I will be the same as captain. I have some different responsibilities as captain, because I have to listen to everybody and then make decisions, and I understand that, but I still want to create an environment that all of these guys enjoy being in and playing in. Whether we win or lose, I want all 12 guys to walk away from The Ryder Cup thinking that it was a good experience. That is my main goal.

The best captains were able to create an environment that was fun to play in and they all did that, even Bernhard [Langer in 2004]. Bernhard was brilliant for the week, especially as he had a reputation for doing his own thing and not really interacting with anyone throughout the year, but when it came to The Ryder Cup he was so different.

Very early in his career, he realised that he couldn’t influence 12 players but he was willing to change for that week and having someone who is willing to do that is a great message for the rest of the team. It allows everybody to enjoy it and I think Bernhard was the best example of that.

I’ve said all along that team USA have a great team but I don’t think anyone should underestimate where we are at the moment. They have a fantastic team but when you look at the world rankings, we have never been in a better position than we are in right now. We are really strong and although we might have a couple of guys who might not have played as well as they would have liked in the second half of the season, we know they can play golf well.

Le Golf National is a good golf course, and it will be fantastic for The Ryder Cup. It’s one of those golf courses that I love to play when I’m playing well but if I’m even a little bit off, it’s a terrible course to play for me.