Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood (born
24 April 1973) is an
English professional
golfer.
Born in
Worksop,
Nottinghamshire, Westwood began to play golf aged 13, which is later than many future tournament professionals, but less than two years later he was the junior champion of
Nottinghamshire. In
1990 he won his first amateur tournament, the Peter McEvoy Trophy. In
1993 he won the British Youth Championship and turned pro.
In
1996 he won his first professional tournament, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, closely followed by the Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters in
Japan. His success continued in
1997 defending his Japanese title and winning the Benson & Hedges Malaysian open, the Volvo Masters in Spain and the Holden Australian Open, beating
Greg Norman in a playoff. He also partnered with
Nick Faldo in the Ryder Cup that year.
Westwood has won 16 events on the
European Tour and has also won tournaments in North America, Africa, Asia and Australia. His
Official World Golf Ranking peaked at 4th, but he has made relatively little impact in the
major championships. He was ranked first on the
European Order of Merit in 2000.
In the
2004 Ryder Cup, Westwood sank the putt which took Europe's points tally to 14 and thereby ensured that it would retain the Cup. (If the matches had finished 14â€"14, Europe would have retained the Cup as the holder.) Europe would eventually win 18½â€"9½.
He is also a big football fan and supports
Nottingham Forest.
*1996
Volvo Scandinavian Masters*1997
Volvo Masters Andalucia *1998
Deutsche Bank-SAP Open-TPC of Europe,
National Car Rental English Open,
The Standard Life Loch Lomond,
Belgacom Open*1999
TNT Dutch Open,
Smurfit European Open,
Canon European Masters*2000
Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe,
Compaq European Grand Prix,
Smurfit European Open,
Volvo Scandinavian Masters,
Belgacom Open *2003
BMW International Open,
Dunhill Links Championship*1996 Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (Japan)
*1997
Malaysian Open, Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (Japan),
Holden Australian Open*1998
Freeport-McDermott Classic (
PGA Tour), Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (Japan),
Dunlop Phoenix (Japan)
*1999 Macau Open
*2000
Dimension Data Pro-Am (South Africa),
Cisco World Match Play Championship (England - not an official European Tour event at that time)
*2003 Nelson Mandela Invitational (with
Simon Hobday)
