Lee Westwood tries to build Scottish Momentum into Open Glory
Lee Westwood has had great first two rounds at the Scottish Open, the last real tune up before The Open Championship.
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He is currently tied for 4th at ten under par, behind leaders Thomas Detry, Jon Rahm, and Jack Senior, who are all eleven under par. While Westwood would love to take the Scottish Open title, we all know this weekend is a building block for something bigger.
Anybody who watches golf, in particular major championship golf, knows Lee Westwood and how good he really is. In fact, at age 48, he’s still ranked 28th in the World Golf Rankings.
It seemed like year after year that Lee Westwood was contending for a major. I knew he had been close a number of times, but I didn’t realize just how many times he’s had a chance over the years until I actually researched it.
He has a total of 19, yes, 19 top ten finishes in majors in his career, 10 of those were top fives, and three time a bridesmaid. He’s been that close that many times and is still searching for that elusive first major win.
There’s something to be said about a couple of things here. One of them is just how hard it is to win a major championship. That a player as good, and better, as Lee Westwood could play as well as he has for over two decades and come up short so often.
The other is his longevity. His first top ten came all the way back at the 1997 Open Championship at Royal Troon. His most recent was at the 2019 at Royal Portrush. Some quick math will tell you that’s 22 years in between top ten finishes.
He has a pair of runner up finishes at the Byron Nelson and Players Championship this season, so he’s had some form of success recently. A good finish at the Scottish Open this weekend would help give him a lot of confidence going into Royal St. George’s next week.
Lee Westwood winning the Open would be among the most satisfying of any in the field, at least for me. I would love to see him get over the hump after so many disappointments, similar to when Sergio Garcia won The Masters in 2017.
Father time remains undefeated, but it is the year of the old man. Tom Brady wins Super Bowl MVP at age 43, Helio Castroneves winning the Indianapolis 500 at age 46, and of course, Phil Mickelson winning the PGA Championship at a record age 50.
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Phil resetting the clock a bit bodes well for Lee Westwood, but time is running out for him. It would mean so much to him to win it in his home country, after all, Glory’s Last Shot may have a much greater meaning after this one.