Lee Westwood

Lee John Westwood (born 24 April 1973) is an English professional golfer.

Noted for his consistency, he is one of the few golfers who has won tournaments on five continents – Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Oceania – including victories on the European Tour and the PGA Tour.

He played for England in the Boys Home Internationals in August 1989, and played for Great Britain and Ireland boys team in the Jacques Léglise Trophy in both 1990 and 1991.

He has also won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.

In 1991 he won his first important amateur tournament, the Peter McEvoy Trophy.

In 1993 he won the British Youths Open Amateur Championship and turned professional.

In 1996, Westwood 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 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 25 events on the European Tour and has also won tournaments in North America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

He was named European Tour Golfer of the Year for the 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2020 seasons.

He has won the 2000 European Tour Order of Merit, and the renamed 2009 and 2020 Race to Dubai.

He has frequently been mentioned as one of the best golfers without a major championship victory, with several near misses including three runner-up finishes.

Westwood has represented Europe in ten Ryder Cups.

His most successful year to date has been 2000 when he won seven tournaments worldwide and was ranked first on the European Order of Merit, ending Colin Montgomerie's long run of European Tour dominance.

His win on the Sunshine Tour's Dimension Data Pro-am in 2000 made him the first golfer to win events on all 6 of the International Federation of PGA Tours.

Westwood took a significant break from the game following the birth of son Samuel Bevan in 2001, and together with a restructuring of his swing under David Leadbetter, led to him being out of contention in tournaments until his 2003 victory in Germany, his 25th worldwide.

Ernie Els (2005) and Justin Rose (2017) are the only golfers to have joined him on this list.

Westwood returned to the winners circle in 2007 by winning both the Valle Romano Open de Andalucía and the Quinn Direct British Masters to bring his total European Tour wins to 18.

As a result, he moved back into the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Westwood finished the 2007 season with five top 10 finishes in the last five events.

He carried this form into the 2008 season, starting with two tied second places and a fifth, moving back into the top 20 in the world rankings.

In 2009, Westwood had two further 3rd-place finishes at major championships, in the Open and the PGA Championship.

In October 2009, Westwood ended his two-year wait for a tournament win by winning the Portugal Masters.

This was followed the next month with a win at the Dubai World Championship, which also brought with it the inaugural Race to Dubai title.

Westwood has played in the Gary Player Invitational charity event several times to assist Player raise money for children in need around the world.

In October 2010, he became the world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, ending the reign of Tiger Woods, and becoming the first British golfer since Nick Faldo in 1994 to hold that position.

He held the number one position for a total of 22 weeks.

Westwood and fellow countryman Luke Donald share the distinction of reaching the number one world ranking despite never winning a major.

He holds the record of playing in the most major championships without winning one.

He is sometimes referred to by his nickname Westy.

Born in Worksop, Nottinghamshire, Westwood attended Sir Edmund Hillary Primary School and Valley Comprehensive School (now an Outwood Grange Academies Trust school) in his youth.

He has family and heritage in South Wales.

Westwood began to play golf aged 13 with a half set bought by grandparents.

His father John, a mathematics teacher, took up the game at the same time to encourage his son.

A talented sportsman at school, Lee played rugby, cricket and football.

Westwood had a later start at the game than many future tournament professionals, but less than two years later he was the junior champion of Nottinghamshire.

Westwood earned a career-best second place at the 2010 Masters Tournament, leading by one shot going into the final day before being overtaken by eventual champion Phil Mickelson.

Westwood came through with his 2nd tour victory at the St. Jude Classic the week before the U.S. Open.

At the Masters, Westwood finished tied for 11th and he narrowly missed out on becoming the first European in 38 years to win the U.S. Open, finishing 3rd on level-par.