Tag Archives: lee westwood

Golf’s New No. 1: Congratulations to England’s Lee Westwood

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After five long years Tiger Woods has finally been deposed as the undisputed number one in world golf – by a man from Worksop, England. Step forward Lee Westwood, the world’s new best golfer.

Lee Westwood

There will be quite a few who claim his failure to win a Major tarnishes his new status and there is an argument for that. There will be a few who claim that Tiger Woods is clearly a more natural golfer and there is an argument for that.

But golf is all about consistency and there is no argument against the fact that over the last 12 months or more Lee Westwood has been golf’s Mr Consistent. Several top three finishes in the last two years at Majors also suggest he isn’t that far off claiming his first. Being installed as number one in the world may even give him the boost in confidence and belief he needs to take that final step where perhaps self doubt has caused him to fail when within touching distance in the past. We’ll see on that one.

For now, let’s just celebrate in the fact that golf now has a new number one and England has our first since Nick Faldo way back in 1994.

It may only be a brief reign, as Westwood himself admitted, saying he’s learned never to write off Tiger Woods and there are several others hot on Westwood’s heels that could snatch it away from him, a lot from the European Tour and some from the US Tour, but then again it may not. It doesn’t really matter – Westwood has been as high as world number four and as low as outside the top 250 so this number one spot is a remarkable achievement.

He’s a very nice guy as well and it’s a well deserved achievement.

Woods to lose world number one spot to Westwood (possibly)

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Lee WestwoodTiger Woods has reined supreme over the golfing world for five years, holding the number one spot since 2005, but his position is now under threat from the supremely consistent Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson.

The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tees off today, Woods defending the title he has won seven times in Ohio. Should he fail to do so, he could lose his number one position to either Mickelson or Westwood.

Here’s how. If Westwood wins and Woods is outside the top two, he will become world number one. If he finishes second, Woods fails to finish better than tenth and Mickelson DOESN’T win the tournament, he will become world number one. If Mickelson wins the tournament, he will become world number one. If Mickelson finishes in the top four and Woods fails to finish in the top 37 (yes, THIRTY SEVEN), he will become world number one.

It’s a bit complicated, but basically the odds on favourite to be the best golfer in the world come Sunday is Lee Westwood – despite never winning a major.

There’s a few stumbling blocks. First of all, while Westwood is in fantastic form, Woods LOVES this course. If he is to regain some of the form he has lost since his fall from grace, it could well be here at Firestone. Then consider this – Westwood will tee off next to Woods for the first two rounds. That’s pressure, playing alongside the man you are trying to depose!

It’ll be compulsive viewing, and you’ll want to keep an eye on Mickelson too, of course. For me, I really hope Westwood does it, his game deserves it and it might just give him that boost to win that first elusive major.

Louis Oosthuizen runs away with The Open

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Louis OosthuizenI did consider doing a daily round up of all the action from the Open at St Andrews, but Louis Oosthuizen changed all that with his runaway victory. I wanted to wait and see whether his game would hold up under the pressure or if he’d crumble as the likes of Paul Casey and Lee Westwood attempted to chase him down.

In the end, of course, his game not only held up but shone. Not at any point did he look like he would lose his cool or his control and his mastery of the links course in tough, windy and wet conditions was a pleasure to watch.

This was golf at its best. There were other brilliant rounds over the four days, not least from Casey, Westwood and the young Rory McIlroy who, despite a torrid second day, recovered superbly to finish tied third on 8 under after a 68 on the final day.

If it hadn’t been for that 8 over 80 on the second day, we could have had a much tighter finish. Casey will feel disappointed with his 75 on the last day as again, he could have challenged Oosthuizen with a better day.

One proud man, the South African winner aside, will be Lee Westwood. He remains the nearly man at majors, but his last round of 70 gave him second place on his own – and did beat Oosthuizen’s calmly taken 71.

For a while it looked like The Open record win of 8 shots clear was under threat. Woods – whose poor putting kept him out of contention here – was the last man to win by that margin, and Westwood ensured he retains that record by pulling back Oosthuizen to a 7 shot victory.

Will Louis gone on to be a great golfer in the same mould as compatriot Ernie Els? On this evidence, he has the game and temperament so why not? He needs to push on from here now, get consistency and challenge for more major honours.

Justin Rose, who I was following closely, sadly failed to perform. He missed the cut on Day Two but I remain hopeful that the 29 year old will one day capture a major. However, if anything, I want Westwood to do it first. He’s so close to it it must be weighing on his mind and his golf does deserve it.

The next golf I’m looking forward to now is the Ryder Cup. Should be brilliant. The USA remain strong but there has clearly been a resurgence in European golf over the last couple of years – a quick look at the final leaderboard here at the Open shows that. The five behind Oosthuizen were all Europeans. Bodes well, I hope!

Englishmen looking good at Players Championship

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Luke Donald and Lee Westwood are handily placed just one shot off the lead after the first round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass. However, a confident feeling Tiger woods is only three shots further back.

Lee Westwood

Westwood: In with a shout at Sawgrass

Both Englishmen dropped just one shot but enjoyed six birdies in the opening round, while Woods had a shakier, but far more competitive round than that seen at Quail Hollow last week.

American J. B. Holmes and Australian Robert Allenby lead the way on six under but perceived wisdom suggests the course will favour Allenby – and other more strategic players – over the big hitters such as Holmes. That’s why Donald and Westwood will fancy their chances over the next three days.

Woods, too, is clearly feeling better about his game but some of his shots were wayward – not least at the 7th where he skied his shot, making just 190 yards. Another surprisingly low scorer on Thursday was Phil Mickelson. He matched Woods’ 70 for the round and said: “Shooting 70 today isn’t the round you want.”

Indeed not. That it’s an upturn for Woods shows how far he had fallen and how far he has to go to get back to anything close to where he was before his troubles.

We expect J. B. Holmes to fall away over the next 54 holes while Donald and Westwood remain consistent. Woods will consolidate his improvement but not challenge and Mickelson has work to do, but think he’ll finish higher than Woods. So do we predict an English winner at The Players Championship? No, not yet. Allenby has the game to win this and Donald has been disappointing for quite a while. Westwood, however, is in with a great shout.

The weather and subsequent conditions will play their part too. Thursday was ideal, but Saturday looks like being windier and may see some rain. Who will stand up to the changing conditions best is yet to be seen.

Who do you think will win The Players Championship? Will it be a shoot out between Westwood and Allenby or will we have a surprise winner in Donald – or someone else entirely? Give us your thoughts and predictions in the comments.