Westwood apologizes for extraordinary Twitter rant

Brit apologizes after late-night three-hour potshots at his critics

Lee Westwood is likely to face an automatic fine of around £5,000 ($7,967 Can) from the PGA Tour despite apologizing for an extraordinary threehour Twitter diatribe Monday, in which he turned on critics of his performances in major championships by saying he was “tired of sitting there taking it.”

In the ensuing 50-tweet attack Westwood described his detractors as “minions” and told one to “get a life,” while even taking a swipe at the views of former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie.

The majority of messages were sent at around 4 a.m. eastern, hours after he had failed to capitalize on a promising position in the final round of the PGA Championship.

He appeared later to recognize his misjudgment with an apology on the same forum that read: “Sincere apologies to my sponsors and true followers for my earlier comments. It was out of order and out of character.”

Westwood’s backers, which include Footjoy, Ping, Titleist and UPS, are likely to have taken a stern view of his provocative behaviour — as is the PGA Tour, which typically imposes nominal fines upon players for such outbursts without publicizing the amount.

If the tirade was indeed uncharacteristic, it was also a reflection of his sensitivity about barbs toward his record in majors, after near-misses this summer at both the British Open and PGA Championship to leave him still without the prize he most covets.

The 40-year-old began his fusillade in the wake of Sunday’s final round at Oak Hill, where he started the afternoon six shots off the lead before eventually limping home 13 strokes adrift of eventual champion Jason Dufner.

He opened up innocuously enough, by asking his 580,000 followers to follow the account of Ian Baker-Finch — the CBS Sports analyst and Westwood’s neighbour in West Palm Beach, Fla., whom he has recently enlisted to help improve his putting — before turning unusually profane and accusatory.

Among his choice taunts, he wrote: “Just sick of negative a— sitting behind a keyboard with a pitiful life” and “Like I give a f— what the haters say — some people will always be just a little bit better and work just a little bit harder.”

He sought to clarify that the comments were not aimed at “decent human beings” but “just the p— that should be locked up by the Twitter police.”

Westwood was asked at one stage to “learn how to putt” to which he replied: “Will you get a life first?”

While Westwood spent five weeks in 2010 and 2011 as the world No. 1, he entered the PGA Championship ranked 12th and recent unravellings, not least his Sunday 76 in Rochester and his closing 75 at Muirfield to lose the 54-hole lead at the Open, have plainly hurt him.

He was especially dismissive when made aware of critical remarks from former European No. 1 Montgomerie, asking “Who?”

Further messages seemed to goad his adversaries and to highlight how much money he had won this season.

“Come on you girlie boy trolls! I’ve only just won over 2 mill on course this year — need you to keep me entertained a bit longer than this.”

Then, minutes later: “Ah just when I’m in the mood the haters all go quiet! Obviously they didn’t like a bit back at ’em! I love slagging people back. Had enough of sitting there taking it. Bring it on!”

The strange bombardment, in which Westwood also became involved in exchanges with Joey Barton, subsided only after he had retweeted a remark from a user who pointed out how much he earned relative to those denigrating him.

Confirming the outburst had been authentic, he said: “Not been hacked. Just honest. Bored now. Westy out.”