Lee Westwood of England takes a ball out of a golf hole on the putting green during a practice round prior to the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Lee Westwood of England takes a ball out of a golf hole on the putting green during a practice round prior to the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai. Ross Kinnaird/Getty ImaShow more

Golf

Lee Westwood is ‘only one good shot from a comeback’ at BMW PGA Championship

The Englishman speaks about his return to form on the golf course, which he hopes to maintain at the BMW PGA Championship this week, and his hopes of playing in the Ryder Cup this year.

Press Association

25 May, 2016

Englishman Lee Westwood on his return to form on the golf course, which he hopes to maintain at the BMW PGA Championship this week, and his hopes of playing in the Ryder Cup this year.

Galvanised

Lee Westwood is among the field taking part in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in England over the next four days, with the opening round of the European Tour event taking place on Thursday.

The Englishman comes into the tournament galvanised by finishing as a runner-up to compatriot Danny Willett at the US Masters last month.

Doubts in your mind

Westwood has struggled recently for form, only qualifying for the Masters by a fraction of a ranking point, and he said: “I think when you haven’t played well for a long time, then you do start to have doubts in your mind.

“But it never takes long for golfers to snap out of it. We’re a pretty dumb breed! We’re only one good shot, really, from a comeback.”

Nice to see

“It was a kick I really needed. I had not played particularly well for a while and it was nice to see my name back up there on the leaderboard,” Westwood added.

“I played average at the Match Play and poorly at Houston, so I didn’t really have too many expectations going into the Masters. I was hoping to basically finish in the top 10 and get an invite back.”

Pick and choose

Former champions Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey, as well as Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Sergio Garcia, are not in the field at Wentworth, and Westwood said: ‘’We have to pick and choose where we play, and some people choose not to play this, but I think in general, the top players support the European Tour as much as they can.”

Ryder Cup

Westwood is hoping he can maintain his form shown at the Masters to make himself part of Darren Clarke’s Europe side for the Ryder Cup in September at Hazletine.

“It’s something that I’m immensely proud of. I’ve played every year since 1997 and won a lot of points, as well,” he said. “It would be nice to play a 10th one and get some more points for the team.”

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