Neck injury forces Bjorn out of singles match

Thomas Bjorn withdrew with a neck injury before the start of his Seve Trophy singles match against Paul Casey at El Saler in …

Thomas Bjorn withdrew with a neck injury before the start of his Seve Trophy singles match against Paul Casey at El Saler in Spain today.

Casey was subsequently awarded the match to put Britain and Ireland 11-8 up. They need 3 1/2 points from the other nine games to retain the trophy.

As in the Ryder Cup, if players are injured more than 30 minutes before games start then the captain of the unaffected team nominates a player to take a half

Bjorn, however, thought he might be fit to play and it was only in his final warm-up that it was decided he was not.