Lee Westwood
England
Lee John Westwood (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer. Since 31 October 2010, he is ranked World No. 1.He is one of the few golfers who have won tournaments on every major continent, including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour. He was named player of the year for the 1998, 2000, and 2009 seasons. He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 Race to Dubai. He has represented Europe for the last seven consecutive Ryder Cups. He spent over 230 weeks in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 1998 and 2001 and returned to the top 10 at the end of the 2008 season and again after the 2009 PGA Championship.
Personal information
Full name Lee John Westwood
Nickname Westy[1]
Born 24 April 1973 (1973-04-24) (age 38)
Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight 196 lb (89 kg; 14.0 st)
Nationality England
Residence Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK
Career
Turned professional 1993
Current tour(s) European Tour (joined 1994)
Former tour(s) PGA Tour
Professional wins 35
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 2
European Tour 21 (10th all time)
Japan Golf Tour 4
Best results in Major Championships
Masters Tournament 2nd: 2010
U.S. Open 3rd: 2008
The Open Championship 2nd: 2010
PGA Championship T3: 2009
Achievements and awards
European Tour
Order of Merit winner 2000, 2009
European Tour
Golfer of the Year
Early life
Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Westwood began to play golf aged 13 with a half set bought by grandparents. His father John, a mathematics teacher, took up the game at the same time to encourage his son. A talented sportsman at school, Lee played rugby, cricket and football.
Career
outlineWestwood had a later start at the game than many future tournament professionals, but less than two years later he was the junior champion of Nottinghamshire. In 1990 he won his first amateur tournament, the Peter McEvoy Trophy. In 1993 he won the British Youth Championship and turned professional.
In 1996 he won his first professional tournament, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, closely followed by the Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan. His success continued in 1997 defending his Japanese title and winning the Malaysian Open, the Volvo Masters in Spain, and the Holden Australian Open, beating Greg Norman in a playoff. He also partnered with Nick Faldo in the Ryder Cup that year.
Westwood has won 19 events on the European Tour and has also won tournaments in North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. His most successful year to date has been 2000 when he won seven tournaments worldwide and was ranked first on the European Order of Merit, ending Colin Montgomerie's long run of European Tour dominance.
Westwood took a significant break from the game following the birth of son Samuel Bevan in 2001, and together with a restructuring of his swing under David Leadbetter, led to him being out of contention in tournaments until his 2003 victory in Germany, his 25th worldwide.
Westwood returned to the winners circle in 2007 by winning both the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia and the Quinn Direct British Masters to bring his total European Tour wins to 18. As a result he moved back into the top 50 if the Official World Golf Rankings. Westwood finished the 2007 season with five top 10 finishes in the last five events. He carried this form into the 2008 season, starting with two tied second places and a fifth, moving back into the top 20 in the world rankings.At the Masters, Westwood finished tied for 11th and he narrowly missed out on becoming the first European in 38 years to win the U.S. Open, finishing 3rd on level-par, his best finish in a major. He followed this up in 2009 with two further 3rd place finishes, in the Open and the PGA Championship. In October 2009, Westwood ended his two-year wait for a tournament win by winning the Portugal Masters. This was followed the next month with a win at the Dubai World Championship, which also brought with it the inaugural Race to Dubai title.
Westwood making a bunker shot at the 2008 OpenWestwood has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity event several times to assist Player raise money for children in need around the world.
Westwood earned a career-best second place at the 2010 Masters Tournament, leading by one shot going into the final day before being overtaken by eventual champion Phil Mickelson. Westwood came through with his 2nd tour victory at the St. Jude Classic the week before the U.S. Open. Westwood claimed another second place finish at the 2010 Open Championship, although he was a distant runner-up to Louis Oosthuizen. Despite the two 2nd place finishes at the season's first three majors, Westwood did not compete in the PGA Championship due to injury.
On 31 October 2010, Westwood became the World number one golfer, ending the reign of Tiger Woods.
Westwood was the world's top golfer for 17 weeks, before being overtaken by Martin Kaymer. Kaymer held the top spot for 8 weeks before Westwood regained it after winning the Indonesian Masters on 24 April 2011.
In May 2011, Westwood contested a playoff at the BMW PGA Championship with fellow Englishman and at the time world number two Luke Donald. On the par five 18th, Donald hit his approach shot into the green leaving six feet for birdie. Westwood attempted to follow him in close to the hole but got too much backspin on his pitch and the ball spun back into the water hazard. Westwood eventually chipped up from the drop zone and went on to make double bogey. Donald would then hole his birdie putt to win the championship and in the process become the new world number one.[15]
Ryder Cup
Westwood made his Ryder Cup debut in 1997 where he partnered fellow Englishman Nick Faldo in both sets of fourballs and foursomes. In the 1999 Ryder Cup, he partnered Darren Clarke for the fourballs and foursomes, picking up 2 points. At The Belfry in 2002 he teamed up with Sergio García in a successful partnership in which they won 3 and lost 1 of their four matches. In the 2004 Ryder Cup, Westwood sank the putt which took Europe's points tally to 14 and thereby ensured that they retained the Cup. Europe eventually won 18½–9½. It was his first victory in singles. He and Darren Clarke were the wildcard selections in 2006[14] and Westwood justified his selection by not losing a game, a feat he had also achieved in 2004. He is the eighth most successful European golfer on points scored, with the second highest scoring rate. During the 2008 Matches, Westwood sat out for the first session in his Ryder Cup career during the matches after a controversial decision by captain Nick Faldo. The European Team ended up losing to the U.S. 16½–11½. In October 2010, Westwood was a member of the European team that won the 2010 Ryder Cup with a one point win over the USA.
Amateur wins
1990 Peter McEvoy Trophy
1992 Lagonda Trophy
1993 British Youths Championship, Leven Gold Medal
Professional wins (35) European Tour wins (20) PGA Tour wins (2)
Japan Golf Tour wins (4) Other wins (7)
Player profile is based on the information provided by www.en.wikipedia.org