"Westwood now has the opportunity to tumble out of bed at his home in the exclusive paradise of Old Palm Golf Club, pull on his shorts and go straight out to practise. The immediate result is that he’s now ranked 21st on tour for scrambling."
Lee Westwood has come close at Augusta in two of the last three seasons. Ralph Ellis says this could be the year when an improved short game means he's ready to be measured up for the Green Jacket...
By his own admission Lee Westwood once had more than 100 putters stored in his garage. While Tiger Woods took the same battered old implement from one winning tournament to the other for years, Worksop's finest was always looking for the magic stick which would sort out the one big weakness in his game.
It's the oldest adage in golf that you drive for show and putt for dough, and Westwood has long been its biggest example. Brilliant from tee to green (his ex caddy Billy Foster claims he's always been the world's best), his short game has never quite matched up.
Take last year's Masters, for example. Around four days at Augusta he took 128 putts, a total exceeded by only three others who played all 72 holes, and yet still finished just two shots short of a play-off. It was probably the most glaring example of his problems in a year when he stayed in the world's top ten despite being ranked 189th for scrambling and 174th in strokes gained/putting on the PGA tour. It doesn't take a genius to work out what needed to be solved to take the last step and actually win a Major.
Much has been made of Westwood's decision to leave his Nottingham roots and move his family to Florida. It's been part of a drastic change, with sacked caddies, coaches and other specialists left in his wake.
But one side effect of living in America was the chance to do something about his short game, and not only the opportunity to tumble out of bed at his home in the exclusive paradise of Old Palm Golf Club, pull on his shorts and go straight out to practise. The immediate result is that he's now ranked 21st on tour for scrambling. The chip shots are going close enough to the hole that he hasn't had to rely on putting.
Living in the States also allowed him to spend some time at Ping's headquarters in Arizona to have his putting stroke put under high-tec analysis with HD cameras establishing that he was cutting slightly across the ball from outside to inside. If you're bothered about the technical side he will now use a Counterbalanced Ping Scottsdale TR Anser B. If you're not, all you need to know is that it has a longer, 38 inch shaft and a higher mass to keep the face more square to the target. He used it in anger for the first time in the Shell Houston Open and the result was a top ten finish. In his opening round he took just 26 putts.
Now I know Augusta's lightning fast greens are a different matter, but that does tend to make Westwood's current price of 3.45n/a for a top ten finish in the Masters rather tempting. Come to that he's got the pedigree to think that backing him at 3433/1 to be the winner will give you a very good run for your money. You're talking about a player who has been in the top three in two of the last three seasons, so sort out his most glaring fault and it could be time to take the final step.
He once had 100 putters. Could it be that the 101st will be the one that Westwood prizes most?
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