Members of the U.S. Ryder Cup team aren’t the only golfers seeking deliverance this week at Gleneagles. Lee Westwood, who used his time on the European squad 12 years ago to revive a foundering career, hopes this year’s competition will have a similar impact on him.
Lee Westwood, Team Europe’s last man in, trims his gut for 2014 Ryder Cup
Lee Westwood has been on the winning side of six of his eight Ryder Cup matches. The former world No. 1 hopes not only to secure a seventh win this week, but to rejuvenate his career.
“The Ryder Cup gave my career a kick-start in 2002 and this could be the same,” Westwood, one of Paul McGinley’s three captains picks, told James Corrigan last week. “Any time you play well under pressure – and next week will be the most intense pressure you will ever experience – it makes a difference.”
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After partnering with Sergio Garcia in 2002 at The Belfry, Westwood began working his way back from his No. 266 world ranking, according to Corrigan. The matches, which Europe won 15.5-12.5 and in which Westwood went 3-2, helped the Englishman recharge.
“I owe the Ryder Cup for helping to restore my belief,” he said.
Westwood, who owns the distinction of having ended Tiger Woods’ reign as world No. 1 when the Brit took over the top spot in October 2010, enters the week back down to 44th and looking for a way up. With a career 18-13-6 Ryder Cup record and as a member of six winning teams in eight starts, this could be the week that sparks another recovery.
For sure, earning a wild-card selection jumpstarted a new fitness regime for the 41-year-old from Worksop, England, who now makes his home in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Indeed, he showed up at last week’s Wales open 23 pounds lighter than he had been mere weeks earlier.
“I’m vanishing,” Westwood told reporters in Wales. “Been in the gym quite a lot and practicing a lot, working on the game. Just really recharging at the same time and getting ready for mainly next week and getting to where I want to be.”
Westwood credited “double gym sessions,” a cardio and weight regimen, and watching what he eats for his slimmer profile.
But it wasn’t his dedication to dieting that prompted McGinley to make Westwood his final captain’s choice. It was the way he turned his game around after missing four of five PGA Tour cuts, including the U.S. and British Opens. A 63 in the finale of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and a first-round 65 at the PGA Championship helped him get to Scotland and now he has to prove he was worthy.
“It’s always important to have had experiences before and I guess that’s partly why Paul has picked me, but there is a little bit of added pressure,” Westwood told Sky Sports. “You want to kind of justify the captain picking you but at the same point I know what’s expected and what I can do at the Ryder Cup. My record speaks for itself so I am just going to go into it and try and play my best and enjoy it.”
Age: 41
World ranking: 44
Ryder Cup record (Win-Loss-Halve): 18-13-6
Past Ryder Cup appearance: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012
How he qualified: Captain’s pick
