Westwood would ‘love to play again’ in Ryder Cup

Lee Westwood, European golf ’s top dog again at the age of 47, is hoping for one last hurrah as a player in the Ryder Cup before, almost certainly, serving as a captain in the biennial event.

The English man made ten consecutive appearances against the Americans between 1997 and 2016, seven of them on winning teams, and sits second to Nick Faldo in terms of matches played.

He then served as a vice captain for Thomas Bjorn in the 2018 win at Le Golf National in France, an appointment that was seen as a step towards Westwood leading Europe into battle in Italy, where the event will now be held in 2023.

That is probably still the plan, but, instead of a second stint on the backroom team for Padraig Harrinton in next year’s rescheduled match at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin, a return to a playing role is ad istinct possibility for the former world No 1. “There’s obviously a lot less pressure watching the lads being vice captain and, at some point, I’m hoping the captaincy is offered ,” he admitted after pipping both Fitzpatrick and Patrick Reed in a thrilling R ace to Dubai title battle to add to his success in 2000 and 2009.

“But I would love to play again and, if I qualify, then I'm clearly good enough, and that's the way I'm going to play it. I can turn up to the biggest tournaments and compete as I proved at the start of the year in Abu Dhabi; the US Open, where I bogeyed the last two holes and if I hadn't, I'd have finished fifth, and here. I'm not going to say it' s one of my goals for next year but I could see it happening .”