Westwood back at happy hunting ground as son Sam makes pro debut
For Lee Westwood the Indonesian Masters is a fertile hunting ground, a place where he has played and won three times over the past 11 years; for his son, it is a trip into the unknown.
Samuel Westwood begins his journey in his father’s rather illustrious footsteps at Royale Jakarta Golf Club this week, in what will be his first professional tournament.
The 21-year-old is in a field boasting five former champions, including dad, as well as Anirban Lahiri and Jazz Janewattananond, for the final International Series event of the season.
Nerves are to be expected, even if the younger Westwood has already played two rounds at Augusta, and caddied at the Masters and the Ryder Cup last year.
“Well, he started to play the game very late, he only took golf seriously at the age of 16, and he’s 21 now, so I don’t really have any expectations for him this week, other than to just enjoy himself,” Lee Westwood said.
“I expect him to be nervous, and feel uncomfortable, because we all feel that way when we tee it up for the first time at a professional event, but after that I expect him to start enjoying himself and start hitting some good shots and build on that.*
“No expectations as far as the scores, or making the cut, or anything like that. It’s his first time, so I just hope he enjoys it.”
The older Westwood is certainly happy to be back at a course that holds “very special memories” for him, after victories in 2011, 2012 and 2015. “I have been here three times, and won three times. It is very nice to be back, and I am looking forward to it,” the 49-year-old said.
While Westwood chases a fourth title, the rest of the field have their sights set on winning a tournament that will decide the Asian Tour Order of Merit and International Series ranking.
This year, the winner will get a shot at earning a multimilliondollar reward in the form of an exemption into the 14-stop LIV Golf League next year.
With a new event already announced for Australia, the 48-player circuit is expected to expand its global footprint in 2023, with stops in North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, the Middle East and Europe.
Separately, Hong Kong’s golfers made a less than ideal start to final qualifying for the All Thailand Golf Tour yesterday, with Terrence Ng’s one-over-par 73 the best of the day. Leon D’Souza finished his first round at three-over, some eight shots adrift of early leaders Chutiphon Janyasawat and Kwanchai Kongtavee, while Lou Tan Chi-hin was even further back at six-over.