Leading From The Front

Lee Westwood has been at the forefront of European golf for decades. Here, he reflects on a brilliant career, assesses his current form and looks ahead to possible Ryder Cup captaincy.

- Jeremy Ellwood

Lee Westwood is now 44 years old and has just embarked on his 25th consecutive European Tour campaign. His very first event was the Madeira Island Open in January 1994, where he finished T19th. He would go on to make 12 consecutive cuts after that, setting an immediate benchmark for the impressive consistency that would become the hallmark of his career. One or two minor blips apart, he’s never really looked back.

Indeed, over the past quarter of a century, Worksop’s finest – one of England’s most popular players – has done very well indeed. He has won 23 times in Europe, twice on the PGA Tour and 42 times in total around the world, including four victories in Japan and a perhaps surprising nine elsewhere in Asia.

Lee Westwood

He has topped the Order of Merit twice, including the inaugural Race to Dubai in 2009, represented Europe on ten successive Ryder Cup teams from 1997 to 2016 and spent 22 weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

The only thing missing from his impressive CV is, of course, a Major, though he has come agonisingly close, with three runner-up finishes – perhaps most famously at Augusta in 2010, where he led heading into the final round, only for Phil Mickelson to turn on some real Sunday magic.

I met up with him in Dubai to reflect on his career, to find out if he’s still as driven as ever and to learn what he still wants to do in the game…

You’ve been on tour for 25 years – are you still as motivated as ever?