Westwood hopes come unstuck in brutal fashion
henglishman has enjoyed a resurgence of form coming into Masters but 78 looks to have ended chances of victory
Was it the call to bring in son Sam in place of fiancee Helen Storey on the bag? Did playing with defending champion Dustin Johnson somehow unnerve him? Perhaps the decision to rest up last week robbed him of momentum?
Whatever it was, after all the hype, the hope, the incredible form in the build-up, there was something particularly cruel about watching Lee Westwood labour his way around Augusta yesterday. Back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players last month, which had propelled him back into the world’s top 20, had given rise to hopes that Westwood might actually break his major duck this week.
Instead, a disastrous first-round 78 threatens Westwood’s presence in any capacity this weekend. It was cruel because it was so unexpected. This genuinely felt like it could have been Westwood’s time.
Of course, the odds were stacked against him. Jack Nicklaus, at 46, remains the oldest recipient of the Green Jacket. Westwood will be 48 later this month and while Augusta has been known to produce its fair share of feelgood stories down the years, this is no country for old men.
But such has been Westwood’s form that it felt a safe bet he would put a tidy round or two together.
It took just three holes for the bubble to burst. After missed birdie opportunities at the first and second, a double-bogey six followed at the third in which Westwood chose to play an iron off the tee, only to find the trees on the right. He would hit a branch trying to escape, before three-putting when he did finally reach the green.
From there, things rapidly went downhill. Bogeys at five, seven and nine saw Westwood reach the turn in 40, with a solitary birdie at the par-five eighth being the only crumb of comfort as son Sam looked on aghast.
Westwood had spoken in the build-up of fiancee Storey’s ability to keep him relaxed out on course. In an insightful interview with this newspaper earlier this week, the couple revealed their modus operandi. “We talk about any old nonsense out there,” Storey said. “Anything but golf. To me, it’s just a lovely walk with Lee around a big field. Like I tell him if he’s looking glum, ‘Hey, nobody’s died, there’s no dramatic music playing in the background’.”
Westwood, who is fulfilling a long-held promise to 19-year-old son Sam, admitted it was a “different” vibe when he had him on the bag. “Sam is a decent player, off scratch, so it’s different,” he said. “Because while Helen and I avoid the ‘golf stuff ’, when I’m with Sam I am actually trying to give him a lesson without him realising.”
Yesterday’s lesson was brutal, but perhaps as valuable as any other as Westwood, usually so reliable tee to green, struggled to find position on hole after hole. Further bogeys at 10 and 12 saw him plummet to six over.
And while he clawed a shot back at the par-five 15th – a brilliant 211yard second over the water giving him an eagle putt – he gave it back again on 17, going right off the tee and finding the pine needles.
The former world No1 has a proud record here, having made the cut 16 times in 19 appearances. He has his work cut out extending that run this week. Even Ian Woosnam is two shots better off than him, and the Welshman, it turned out, had pulled muscles in his groin and back before play even got under way.
Augusta’s patrons will be willing him on. The fairy-tale first major may be beyond him, but all of golf will hope Westwood can rediscover the touch, and even more so the carefree attitude, he exhibited last month when he tees it up today.