Thomas Bjorn, playing his first tournament for 10 weeks due to a shoulder injury, was the centre of attention both on and off the course at The Belfry today.

The Dane fired a three-under-par 69 in the opening round of the Quinn Direct British Masters to be two behind leader Marcus Fraser, of Australia, but then ruled himself out of the running for the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2010.

Bjorn is chairman of the European Tour players' committee who will choose Nick Faldo's successor.

But he said: "I am only 37 and I don't think I was ever in the equation. We're not in any rush and we've decided to let the dust settle over this one."

The captaincy could be discussed in Scotland next week but it will be January before it is officially put on the agenda.

Jose Maria Olazabal, Faldo's assistant at Valhalla, and Sandy Lyle appear to be the leading candidates.

And Lyle said today: "It's about handling people and all the different egos. I've known a lot of Ryder Cup players and I think I've got good feedback off them."

Darren Clarke, who was left out of the European team by Faldo, had a quadruple-bogey eight today on his way to a score of 80.

That was matched by Chris Wood, who turned professional after finishing fifth at this year's Open Championship.

He hit three drives out of bounds in running up a 10 at the 384-yard 13th.