Lee Westwood’s first visit to Royal Portrush was in 1993 when he was one of the favourites to win the Amateur Championship. His mother, Trish, stepped in as caddie.
Lee Westwood’s first visit to Royal Portrush was in 1993 when he was one of the favourites to win the Amateur Championship. His mother, Trish, stepped in as caddie.
“It peed down and she didn’t keep the clubs dry,” Westwood recalls. “I didn’t qualify for the matchplay stages and I told Mum it was her fault. She told me that she had managed to keep my nappies dry for all those years. There is no arguing with that.”
Two years later, Westwood played in his first Open Championship and on the 30th anniversary of his debut the memories are coming back to the 52-year-old. “It was at St Andrews, the Home of Golf, so it was intimidating enough waiting to get on that first tee in front of the Royal and Ancient clubhouse and everything.
“We were in the group behind Arnold Palmer and he was playing with Ian Baker-Finch [the 1991 champion]. Well, Baker-Finch hit that hook that has become infamous. It’s the widest fairway in golf and he hits 180 yards left over the first fairway, over the 18th fairway and out of bounds, where no pro had ever been before or since.
“There were a few gasps, then dead silence. It was eerie and I’m stood there saying to my caddie, ‘for f--- sake, he won this a few years ago and if the pressure gets to him...’”
Westwood “bunted” his down the fairway, made his par and “managed to suppress the vomit”.
“It was great after that. The Old Course invariably gets clogged up so every tee I’d be able to have a chat with Arnie. It was his last ever Open, so we had the best view of him waving goodbye on the Swilcan Bridge on the Friday.
“It was emotional, because I mean, what a guy. I can’t remember what we talked about, but I do remember two years later when I should have won his tournament at Bay Hill [the PGA Invitational on the PGA Tour].
“I think I finished double-bogey, bogey, double-bogey and, as tradition dictates in that event, I went over and shook Arnie’s hand at the back of the green. Ernie [Els] ended up winning and afterwards I was with Ernie in the bar and Arnie walked in and joined is. After a few vodkas he clocks it was me and said: ‘It’s you – you finished terribly. But then you walked up the hill, smiling and shook my hand. If that was me, I’d have been chewing the f------ grass.’ Quality.”
Westwood in this mood is one of the best listens in the game and no doubt when he meets up his old friends at the Dunluce Links this week, the yarns will burst forth. Yet Westwood insists he will not be at Portrush simply to catch up with pals, or, as he puts it, “to have one last whirl at the Open” after missing it for the last three years.
“That’s definitely not why I entered qualifying for the first time since ‘95. I did it because I played well at Portrush in 2019 [when he finished fourth] and I loved the course. I don’t look back, never have, and with myself anyway, don’t get nostalgic.
“But I was proud of getting through at Dundonald. I’d flown there straight from the LIV event in Dallas, got there at 8pm, walked the course as I’d never seen it, had an hour’s sleep, because of jetlag, then got up and played 36 holes and was the medallist.
“Helen [his wife, who caddied for him at the Ayrshire course] said I was talking some right rubbish. I was delirious, surviving on fumes. But it was worth it as I’m back at the tournament I always wanted to win above all others. The Open has always been the one. I loved the Masters, but playing in front of a home crowd at the Open... There is nothing like it. I came close in both.”
Indeed, Westwood had three top-three placings in 27 Opens and three top-threes in 21 Masters. He does not like to trawl through the near misses – “it’s boring”, he says – but acknowledges that “the one that got away was definitely in 2009”, when he bogeyed the last to finish a single shot out of a play-off in which Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson.
“Yeah, I’m always told I should have won a major, but so what? ‘Should have,’ means nothing. I have no regrets, I’ve had a good career. Go to world No 1. Not many have done that or played in 11 Ryder Cups.
“The way I see it is that I had a slump in 2001 going into 2002 and I was there, as a 27-year-old sat on the edge of my hotel bed somewhere in the world after yet another missed cut, saying to myself ‘I’ve had it, I’m going to quit’. It happened a few times. I didn’t, though. I’ve always believed this game is character-forming and quitting wouldn’t have helped form my character, would it?
“So I don’t fret about majors. I’m not Doug Sanders. I only think about the close calls when it gets mentioned to me. I’ve got bigger things to concentrate on. Things that I can actually have some control on.”
Sanders, of course, famously said 20 years after missing a tiddler to win the Open: “Do I always think about that putt? No. Sometimes it doesn’t cross my mind for a full five minutes.”
British Open, 12 juillet 1970. Le flamboyant Doug Sanders, amateur de playmates, de vodka tonic et de tenues flashy, rate le putt de la victoire avant de s'incliner face à Jack Nicklaus : Plus tard, il confiera : « Parfois, il peut se passer trente minutes sans que j'y pense » pic.twitter.com/iBClmSn8KK
— Perdants magnifiques (@TousPoulidor) July 12, 2024
In terms of his career, Westwood denies that he has a plan to bring the curtain down anytime soon.
“Honestly, I don’t. I haven’t planned any further than August when the LIV season finishes. My [three-year] contract is up with them, although we have been talking about a renewal. Even if it doesn’t happen, I can go back to the DP World Tour. LIV would pay my fines, which are ridiculously about £900,000 and I still have exemptions to play on that circuit. LIV would already have paid my fines if I’d asked, but I haven’t done it out of principle. It’s a daft amount anyway.”
Westwood is adamant he is not bitter about leaving the Tour on which he won the Order of Merit three times. “I’m just worried for those who are still there and where the Tour is heading. They have basically been swallowed up by the PGA Tour and they were always our rivals.
“In Ponte Vedra, they don’t care about the DP World Tour. Our Tour board has turned down a great deal from LIV and a lot of their players know. Lots of them ask me what they should do, but all they can do is ask questions at AGMs and maybe an EGM. Poults [Ian Poulter] and I tried to do that at Wentworth three years ago, but got talked to by the chief executive like schoolkids. He’s gone, but nothing has changed. The Tour is very vulnerable.”
It is interesting to hear that Westwood could envisage a pathway back to the Tour. Yet as far as the Ryder Cup captaincy or even assistant captaincy, he believes it is a hopeless case. “I would have loved to be Ryder Cup captain, but they have closed that possibility because of LIV. It’s funny in a way as I’ve heard the names of guys who are being lined up and am aware that the only reason they didn’t join LIV is because their numbers were not met and they wanted too much. How does that work?
“Another thing that makes me laugh is that the Tour’s video team were at the LIV event in Valderrama and asked me to do a bit of a motivational bit to camera. I’m banned! And they want me to help them out! I took the moral high ground and did it. But I ask you...”
Westwood is mystified by much in the seemingly never-ending split. Currently he cannot imagine a peace deal being reached and smiles at the notion that the Saudi paymasters will walk away. “HSBC has just done a deal with LIV and we [The Majesticks] are one of the teams the bank is backing. HSBC would not put in its money and reputation, if it even had the slightest fear of LIV shutting down. People need to wake up. And not just to this.”
Westwood is sure that “two-tier” splicing is alive and well on the DP World Tour and dismisses the claims that it is merely following its own rulebook.
“They don’t believe that, not really. Jon [Rahm] and Tyrrell [Hatton] have had the red carpet rolled out since they joined LIV, so they can appear in this year’s Ryder Cup, but they banged the door shut on us lot. They painted us as the villains and yeah, I had a few comments chucked at me.
“It doesn’t bother me, because it’s only a few, and I’m sure the galleries at this Open will be great. They always are. It’s what makes me excited about Portrush, although I will not be burdening myself with any expectations on how I perform. So long as I enjoy it. Work hard, try your best and move on. It’s served me OK this far. Helen will be on the bag. My mum 32 years ago and now my wife. I hope it doesn’t rain.”
Category: General Sports
