Lee Westwood hopes to win the elusive major title starting with the US Open
Among the 156-man field at this week’s US Open at Congressional Country Club, if there is one man who wants to break the taboo of not winning a major in his career, it is none other than former world number one, Lee Westwood.
Having relished 17 months on the summit of Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), before being finally dethroned by Martin Kaymer earlier this year, Westwood forged his way ahead to grab the top slot again with his back to back victories on the Asian Turf.
Westwood lost the title again at Wentworth when Luke Donald moved to clinch the title to knock him from the top, in a tight Playoff hole. But what has been really missing in Westwood’s career isn’t a fancy ranking at the top, but rather more elusive major
events, which he has not been able to win as yet.
"It should be a great week - I'm very excited," said Westwood who finished outright second twice in 2010 both at the Masters and The Open Championship.
Westwood is questioned so many times of his major drought that at one moment he thrashed the media men and started saying “no comments” to the question. He finished tied for third in both the Open Championship and the PGA Championship in 2009. The Englishman's
best results for the US Open came in 2008 when he finished for an outright third. He has been so close to winning a major, yet failed to achieve so much so that he is often compared with his countryman Colin Montgomerie for his misfortunes.
"It's a tricky balancing act, going in with expectations but playing with a freedom as well," said Westwood who finished 19th in his debut US Open 14 years ago.
Westwood was recently named as the Officer of The British Empire by the Queen, for the great service he has rendered to the promotion of sport in UK. He is considered as one of the most prolific players in the world and has won events across the globe.
Westwood's fondness for the tropical Asian courses has yielded many Asian Tour titles including the recently won Indonesian Masters. Despite of all the experience the 38-year-old golfer brings with him, he acknowledges the fact that the US Open is one of
the toughest tournaments in the world.
"I think it's probably the toughest test of all four majors. You seem to see the highest score winning here compared to the others. You just have to be very, very patient and not give any shots away unnecessarily," he added.
Turning professional in 1993, Westwood went over to win 35 professional titles, 21 of them coming on the European Tour. He has also won four events on the Japan Golf Tour and surprisingly, just two on the PGA Tour.
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