Lee Westwood's strong start to shedding nearly-man tag at 92nd attempt

Times

3 days ago

There is still a long way to go this week if Lee Westwood is to finally discard the unwanted record as the man with the most major appearances without winning one, but it seemed on Thursday that the 52-year-old Englishman is already content enough with merely being a part of the Open once again.
'It's nice to see my name on the big yellow scoreboards and it's nice to walk down the 18th here,' Westwood said on his 92nd appearance at a major. 'For a British player it's the greatest walk in golf, especially if you're in with a chance on Sunday.'
Westwood clearly revelled in his return to this championship for the first time in three years. Having produced one of the best stories in qualifying by coming through 36 holes at Dundonald Links in Scotland two weeks ago, the former world No1 has carried that form across the Irish Sea by posting a two-under-par opening round of 69.
Whether his wife Helen enjoyed it so much was debatable. She had been tasked with caddying after her successful stint on the bag last time at Portrush in 2019, when Westwood finished in a tie for fourth. While both like to spend time together on the course, heavy rain midway through Thursday's round made the job far more challenging.
'She loves the weather over here, the fact that she needs two pairs of hands and sometimes three,' Westwood said, jokingly.
'She caddied for me in the qualifying and I prefer to have her caddying for me whenever she can. We have a good record around here from finishing fourth here six years ago. It's an easy decision for me to make, probably harder for her. She would probably rather be at home riding her horse.'
Ironically, Westwood's preparations for his Open campaign did not get off to the ideal start in qualifying because of a faux pas by his wife. Landing in Glasgow airport the night before, after a mad dash from an LIV event in Dallas, Helen was supposed to pick him up for the journey onwards to Dundonald.
'She said there was a bit of miscommunication,' Westwood said. 'I asked her where she was, and she was already sitting upstairs in Dundonald Golf Club having dinner.'
A taxi was hailed instead and Westwood briefly scouted out the course upon his arrival before heading to bed. Despite having only one hour of sleep because of jetlag, he finished top of the leaderboard by playing 36 holes in seven under par.
Curiously, Westwood, who was second at St Andrews in 2010, did not attempt to qualify for the Open in the past two years. A switch to the unranked LIV tour led to him dropping out of the running for direct entry — he has not played an event affiliated with the official golf world rankings since 2023 — and he did not feel his game was in good enough shape. Even this year he has posted only one top-20 finish on LIV.
The prospect of returning to Portrush, however, has provided the spark Westwood has been seeking. He has always liked this course, first coming here in 1993 to play the Amateur Championship.
'I love the Open championship and I love Portrush,' Westwood said. 'I've been coming here a long time. Portrush is one of the golf courses where, if it wasn't the Open and if someone said, 'Do you want to go and play here this weekend?' then I would probably go. There are not many golf courses like that.'
It was easy to see why Westwood enjoys these links, with four birdies in his first 12 holes on Thursday. Bogeys on the 14th and 16th threatened to derail his round as the rain hammered down but he used his experience to keep calm and post two pars for a 69.
This style of course clearly offers Westwood his best chance of becoming a major champion and handing back his status as golf's nearly man to Jay Haas, who was the previous record holder with no trophies in 87 appearances.
'Links golf, more than any golf, gives you a chance when you are our age,' Westwood said. 'There's a bit more run on the ball. It's not a golf course laid out where there is a massive advantage to carry a trap at 310 yards, which I don't have any more. You've got to use the conditions and hold the ball up well in the sidewinds and crosswinds, and obviously be able to bring your ball flight down when you're going into the wind.'
Another LIV veteran also impressed with his experience on day one. At the age of 55, Phil Mickelson posted his best round at an Open Championship since 2018 with a one-under-par round of 70.
'Winning the Open in 2013 [at Muirfield] was the greatest accomplishment in my career because I had to learn a style of golf that I didn't grow up playing,' Mickelson said. 'Now I've come to really love it, enjoy it, and I seem to play well in some of the adverse conditions too.'