John O'Sullivan finds Thomas Bjorn in good spirits as he prepares to pick himself up after last Sunday's heartbreak

Paradise Lost. Yesterday at Portmarnock an autopsy was carried out on Thomas Bjorn's British Open championship challenge. The Dane, acting as coroner-in-chief, sifted through the evidence, passionate in his advocation that he would emerge from the setback a stronger and more assured player.

He has undoubtedly received a post-Sandwich debriefing from his motivational guru, Belgian Jos Vantisphout, but it would be churlish not to recognise the sincerity of his words. Dropping four shots in three holes last Sunday and with it a championship. that until then rested squarely in his hands, would have sent many scurrying for the haven of a locked door and pulled curtains.

Bjorn knew that, despite his acute disappointment, turning up for the Nissan Irish Open would be cathartic on several levels, a journey rendered more palatable by the support he received from his fellow professionals.

"When I look back at what went on, what happened and the response I got from other players, from people that watched it, I have no other reason than to be proud of what I did last week. I felt very good about my golf, I have every confidence in myself about the future.

"If you are not disappointed about throwing away a three-shot lead over the last four holes of a British Open there must be something wrong with you. I have to live with it but I had some great support from some wonderful friends out here. I had some very important phone calls the last couple of days which has taught me a lot about who my friends are and also taught me a lot about how good a golf player a lot of people out there think I am."

One phone call mattered especially when the caller suggested "now you know what everyone else out there has known for a long time; you have the game to win majors." Ernie Els was the man on the line. Others too were generous in their words of consolation and Bjorn didn't try to hide his gratitude about those friendships, ones that he admits are reciprocated even within a professional sport. "I have fallen off the horse hard but I have to get back on it and go out and play golf. I can't sit back and say I blew my chance. I have to go on from there.

"Spending time with my family has been very important to me in the last few days. I have to get out there and face the music. I have to come and face you guys (the media). I have to come and face all my fellow professionals. I can't sit at home and feel sorry for myself. That's too easy a way out."

Bjorn has retained his sense of humour, offering his take on the little boy who, while waiting for an autograph beside the practice range the other day, offered this aside to his friend: "There's that guy who lost the British Open." The Dane laughed: "If he had been 25 years old you would want to give him one with the hand (gestures a punch) but he was 10 and you just go, 'oh well'. The truth is I lost a British Open but you have to face those things and live with it. Jean Van de Velde is still alive. He more than anyone else in the world knows how I feel. Some guys lose majors."

The good news for those who admire the Dane is that he is not a masochist, feeling no compulsion to watch on video that quicksand moment in a bunker on the 16th at Royal St George's when he took three to get out.

"You can wake up in the middle of the night and see that golf ball rolling back at you like the biggest snowball in the world. You are going to have a nightmare once in a while and when you do wake up in the middle of the night the mind spins a bit. It shows you how much it means to me.

"The only time this will be forgotten will be when I win a major championship. If I win one then people will say: 'he learned at Royal St George's'. If I don't people will always remember me as the guy who had a major championship in the bag and never won one.

"I know I'm good enough. I faced four of the best six players in the world irrespective of rankings and when I stood on the 15th tee none of those four players were in the tournament. I brought a couple of them back in but they weren't in it." Bjorn can take heart from John Milton's sequel: Paradise Regained.