You should be saying Gracias for Garcia CAPTAIN BJORN DEFENDS HIS CONTROVERSIAL SELECTION OF OUT-OF-FORM SPANISH STAR

THOMAS BJORN claimed that no European player did “a Bryson DeChambeau” to deny Sergio Garcia a Ryder Cup wildcard.

Europe’s Ryder Cup captain insisted the off-form Spaniard would be the “heartbeat” of his team who will make the other 11 players better.

Bjorn (left) yesterday named the veteran quartet of Garcia (far left), Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson to add experience to a team with five rookies.

Garcia’s inclusion is the most contentious as he becomes the first player to make a Ryder Cup team after missing the cut in all four Majors.

But while American DeChambeau won the first two FedEx Cup playoffs events to merit selection, Bjorn said Matt Wallace’s win in Denmark or Rafa Cabrera-Bello’s form was not enough to get picked ahead of Garcia.

“I felt like I had to go a long, long way to leave him out,” said the European skipper.

“I wanted him there, and I needed somebody to do a Bryson DeChambeau for him not to be there.

“You’ve got to look at Sergio in certain ways. He is the heartbeat of the team, it’s like a football team going without a captain.

“We talked about what is great about a European team room. Well, he is what’s great about the European team room. He is everything what the European Ryder Cup is about.

“He makes other people better in the Ryder Cup. I think and I believe that if we’re going to win against this American team, those are the people that we need. We need people that can rise to the occasion, that can up their game and that can make the man standing next to him better, and Sergio does that.

“I felt like our team needed the experience. My own experience tells me that being a rookie, no matter how good you are, you are still a rookie.”

Bjorn infamously found out he was left out of Ian Woosnam’s 2006 team on TV. But the Dane phoned six players who missed out, with Cabrera-Bello the most painful conversation.

“I felt sick to my stomach because I think the world of the bloke,” said Bjorn.

He described the selection of world No.16 Casey as a “no-brainer” and added: “If I had written down 12 names before I started my captaincy journey, it wouldn’t have been far away from this. We know what America brings, but I’m confident that this is the group of guys that can do the job.”