Victorious Ryder Cup Captain Thomas Bjørn is happy to be back at the scene of Europe's 1997 triumph for this week's Andalucía Valderrama Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation.
The Dane was 26 years old and playing in his first Ryder Cup contest when home hero Seve Ballesteros led Europe to a 14.5-13.5 victory over the United States.
Playing alongside Welshman Ian Woosnam, Bjørn delivered a point in the Saturday morning fourballs before halving his singles match against Justin Leonard on Sunday.
Three weeks after leading Europe to a 17.5-10.5 victory at Le Golf National, where Garcia became Europe's all-time leading points scorer in the biennial showpiece, Bjørn cast his mind back 21 years to a special week at Real Club Valderrama.
He said: "It's always nice to come back here. It was such a special week that one, in the sense of Seve and the way the week unfolded.
"There was a group of guys in that team like Darren (Clarke), Lee (Westwood) and myself that were determined to make the Ryder Cup something special in their careers.
"You fall in love with the Ryder Cup as a kid and watching it, but when you set your feet on the ground here and get to experience it as a player, there was certainly a feeling from all three of us that we wanted to be part of it.
"It was a very unique week and obviously having Seve as captain made it extra special. So every time you come back here, for all the players in that team it’s very special."
Last week's Sky Sports British Masters saw Bjørn return to action for the first time since the Made In Denmark seven weeks ago.
I wanted to be here for Sergio, I wanted to be here for his Foundation and for all the things he’s done for golf and for me - Thomas Bjørn
While he does not feel in a position to compete for the trophy this week, the 47 year old said he could not turn down the opportunity to play at this week's host course.
"I wanted to get back into playing some sort of golf," added Bjørn. "It's a tough golf course to come to when you haven't practiced a lot but any time you get a chance to play here you should take it because it's a privilege to play this golf course.
"The practice I've done over the last six months doesn't really allow me to look at this tournament in a competitive way.
"I wanted to be here for Sergio, I wanted to be here for his Foundation and for all the things he’s done for golf and for me.
"It was a pretty unique situation for Sergio to become the all-time scorer and that’s something pretty cool to be part of. He stood up in that Ryder Cup and really showed what qualities he possesses, so I felt like I wanted to be in his event for him and his Foundation."
