Golf
Monday, 26 October 2009 02:10
Written by WGC-HSBC Champions

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Lee Westwood wins after two-year gap

For a couple of years, everyone had been saying that the next Lee Westwood win was just around the corner. ‘Just around the corner’ turned out to be a bit more than that as the player kept adding to a long list of top tens and even had three near misses in majors before finally getting his hands on a trophy.

Three behind Retief Goosen after three rounds of the Portugal Masters at Vilamoura, the 36-year-old Westwood began his last lap with four successive birdies and went on to win by two from Italy’s dogged Francesco Molinari. Padraig Harrington, who has been there or thereabouts almost every week in the last couple of months, finished third.

“I was beginning to wonder why I wasn’t winning when I was in contention so often,” said Westwood. “I had to figure out why it wasn’t happening and hopefully I’ve done that now.”

Though Westwood’s winning golf was of the highest order – as he said himself, “scores of 66, 67, 66 and 66 aren’t to be sneezed at” – he had his lucky breaks.

Most notably at the long 17th when, between clubs for his second, he opted for “a little cut with my five-wood” which did not turn out as intended. The ball cannoned into a melee of people, bushes and trees and could have finished anywhere. “It wasn’t a particularly nice moment,” said Westwood, tongue-in-cheek.

Where he was lucky was that the ball came to rest on a ridge of sand from which he was entitled to a free drop.

The free drop did not look that appetising at the time in that he found himself staring at a bare lie with trees straight in front. “I needed to play a fantastic shot and thankfully I did,” he said of the 45-yard blind pitch which flew the trouble before subsiding on the green and finishing miraculously close to the hole.

What could have turned into an ugly six or seven had instead amounted to a birdie which took the Ryder Cup man to 23 under par at a time when Molinari, in the party behind, had just made a three-putt bogey at the 16th to go back to 21 under.

At the par-four 18th, Westwood hit his drive into thick rough, only to come up with one more brilliant recovery, a six-iron to the heart of the green. “A classy golf shot from a very strong man”, was the verdict of Denis Pugh, the swing-coach-cum-commentator.

In his teens and 20s, Westwood might not have made such a good fist of the shot. It was only once he turned 30 that he went to work on his fitness under trainer Stephen McGregor. Though the improvement in his physique is patently obvious, he says himself, “I’ve got better body control and I’m hitting further.”

For swing purposes, he is back working with Pete Cowan, the coach who took him to the top of the Order of Merit in 2000, a summer in which he bagged as many as five titles to make it 12 wins in three years.

It was then that he went into a slump of major proportions, tumbling down the rankings to the point where he was outside the top 250 in the world. He felt wretched and, amid his panic, dashed from one teacher to another.

If there was anything which helped during that period, it was what he taught himself. Namely, that it had been a mistake to search for a level of improvement which was not to be had. Golf, he decided, was less about perfection than making the most of those days when the game is not firing on all cylinders.

Westwood’s father, John, helped him through his dark tunnel until he notched what was a milestone of a win in the 2007 British Masters at The Belfry. That there was no immediate return to his former multiple-winning ways came as a disappointment but, deep down, Westwood knew he was playing some of the best golf of his life.

With the Portuguese Masters in the bag, he is now eyeing the big end-of-season tournaments, with particular reference to the WGC HSBC Champions.

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