This is my first time in "re-hab" and hopefully my last. I had absolutely no idea just how boring it could be. The only positive (debatable) thing to emerge is that I now have a greater understanding of how the body works, particularly in the area of the right calf muscle. It is a part of my anatomy I am totally familiar with considering that it is the only area I have been able to look at for the last 19 days and counting.

I am reliably informed – and who would disagree with my physio and fitness trainer Steve McGregor – that keeping the affected area above the level of my heart helps the healing process by bringing the swelling... MORE »

There are boats and then there are BOATS. Last week I went on one of the second variety. What a boat. All 90ft of it, Sunseeker brand, perfect for a three-day spin round the Med.

Apart from the real crew, Captain Arthur, Mark, Henry and Chantelle, my crew included wife Laurae, caddy Billy and his spouse Lisa and Worksop friends Wayne and Lisa.  And last, but by no means least, Mad Tonia. Actually, describing her as mad, does her an injustice. She is absolutely stark, raving bonkers.

And so we set sail for St. Tropez where we did some sight-seeing at the Nikki Beach Club and then on to Antibes. Before our trip, I’d returned from The Open, in time to present the prizes... MORE »

HATS OFF to Louis Oosthuizen, champion golfer of 2010 and the player with the most butchered name in golf. Well he certainly got his own back at St.Andrews and butchered the rest of us on the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship.

A seven-stroke victory with yours truly runner up made for a magnificent performance by the 27-year-old South African.

For those who have had trouble getting their tongues round names such as Mark Calcavecchia, Victor Ciesielski or Miguel Angel Jiminez, Louis Oosthuizen shouldn’t be too much trouble. Don’t bet on it.The ‘s’ in Louis is silent so pronounced Lou-e... although I appreciate the surname does lend itself to all kinds of interpretation. I have heard it pronounced all manner of... MORE »

It was a good news/bad news scenario when I went for MRI and ultrasound scans this week.

The bad news was that the MRI revealed I had a small tear or rupture close to my right leg calf muscle. The good news was the ultrasound showed that I wasn’t pregnant.

So how did I come by the problem which flared up during last weekend’s French Open?  The simple answer is that I have absolutely no idea. What happened was that the problem area began to swell and the pain increased. It wasn’t much fun.

Medical opinion was that I should rest for a week and then see how things developed. Anyway the news hounds sniffed a story and since last weekend I have... MORE »

What an amazing Sunday in Memphis. It just shows you not to expect anything in golf because you never know what's going to happen next.

I wasn’t quite ready to leave the course, but when somebody holds a three-shot lead as Robert Garrigus had standing on the 72nd tee, you just don’t think it’s going to a play-off.   So I suppose I got a break with other people’s misfortunes, but made the most of it and took a chance.

It’s just amazing how things pan out and I arrived at Pebble Beach as the St.Jude Memphis Classic champion – 12 years after my first win in America.

The key to all this is keeping in contention and I’ve been doing that often over... MORE »

So, what have I done since my last blog... well, I took the family on holiday to Portugal and came back 3 kilos (six and a bit pounds) heavier than when I went!

My fitness trainer Steve McGregor soon had me back to my fighting weight on my return and after a few days getting me and my game back into shape, I set off for Memphis. It took me three days to get there because I went via Pebble Beach.

My new approach to the majors is to get most of my on-course practice done ahead of the championship itself. That way I don’t have to do too much in the immediate build-up so arriving at the first tee fresh and... MORE »

Whoever coined the phrase about ‘change being as good as a rest’ wasn’t thinking about golf. I certainly didn’t get any rest out of the change Ernie Els recently made to the West Course at Wentworth.

Normally after two days of the PGA Championship, the European Tour’s flagship event, I’m heading back home up the M1 wondering why I ever drove down in the first place.

Not this year my friends. Not only did I qualify for all four days, but also managed to climb into the top 10 as many of Europe’s finest punctured in the new potholes Ernie and his co-designers placed along the new-look Burma Road.

Ernie’s mandate was obviously to make the course tougher and he has definitely succeeded.... MORE »

We have a saying in England which covers days when a golfer’s timing is a little less than expected, wanted and needed. It goes along the lines of: ‘couldn’t hit a cow’s backside with a banjo’.

I had total empathy with that statement on Sunday during the final round of the Players’ Championship at Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra, Jacksonville, Florida. (If you need the zip code contact UPS). The banjo was in my hand, the bovine butt staring me in the face, but hit it... no way, and that’s not an affliction I’ve suffered much from in the last couple of years.

I may have been leading going into the last day, but, to be perfectly honest, I got away with things... MORE »

There I was at home in Worksop looking forward to a holiday in the sun when a great big black cloud draped itself over my, and a million others, plans.

Iceland literally blew its top. Mount Eyjafjallajokull belched its fury into European airspace and Barbados was out of the question for the Westwoods.

So Laurae and I swapped a week on the beach for two days in London which was very pleasurable, but not exactly what I had in mind when returning from Augusta.

What else have I been doing since my last blog? Watching football – or soccer if you are American – for one thing. As my regular readers will be aware, Nottingham Forest is my team and hopefully we... MORE »

An English writer – I will save his embarrassment by not naming him, but it was John Hopkins of The Times – prefaced his question to me in the post-Masters press conference by calling me Phil.

‘It’s Lee,’ I said. ‘You’ll recognise Phil when he comes in next. He’ll be wearing a green jacket.’

And so the much-coveted jacket of Augusta was draped around Phil, and good luck to him and his family.  I had to make do with the much less coveted runners up position. So it’s been 3rd, 3rd, 2nd in my last three majors. I can’t wait for Pebble Beach in June to try my best to continue that descending sequence of figures.

Don’t worry, I intend to keep knocking... MORE »

Not a great deal to shout about on the golfing front, but I’ve fully recovered from the knee injury which was troublesome leading up to my participation in the Honda Classic. I didn’t hit balls until the pro-am and started slowly when the tournament begun, like somebody who hadn’t played for a while.

The fun started after I’d finished. I’d crept into the top 20 and watched the later starters on television with my caddy Billy Foster. By the time they’d all finished I’d gone from the high teens into the top 10.

From West Palm Beach we headed for Miami where the best part of the week occurred off the course. A few of us went to watch Dwayne Wade lead... MORE »

I have an interest in quite a few four-legged friends. Unfortunately, the ones I’ve been backing of late have all had three. And so it continued at Cheltenham this week.

Now Cheltenham, for all those who may not be familiar with national hunt racing’s biggest festival, is where seven million Irishmen descend annually to imbibe a black sea of Guinness and eat a hundred herd of hogs while thousands of others guzzle down France’s champagne stocks and deplete the North Sea’s cod and shrimp quota.

But I’m always pleased when my schedule allows me to visit because it is one of the most memorable sporting occasions on the planet. At least what you can remember of it. Trouble is you just can’t... MORE »

I’d like to explain my torn, right-knee ligament as the direct result of landing awkwardly on a snowboard after completing a high tariff, 35-yard high jump incorporating five twists and four somersaults.

That’s what I’d like to. Unfortunately I can’t because it is far divorced from reality. The simple truth of why I am currently unable to do anything more than chip and putt is this: something snapped in my knee as I was putting on a pair of shoes to go outside our house in Worksop last week.

It wasn’t a particularly heroic way to join the golfing injury list, but that’s what happened – bend over, slip boot on, pull and... ouch!

My fitness guru Steve McGregor told me that my kind... MORE »

My Nan once gave me the grandmother of all rebukes. She spotted me on television taking out my frustration on a bush after something hadn’t gone my way. She rightly pointed out that whatever problems I was having, they were absolutely nothing to do with innocent plants.

Since Nan passed away a few years ago, my mum has taken it upon herself to become the Westwood behaviour and language controller. I kept her busy in Qatar last week when she found me guilty of using inappropriate language.

There had been a build up of aggravations and irritations until I reached boiling point leaving the sixteenth green during the... MORE »

It was a fantastic year in 2009, but, at some stage, you have stick it in a box and move on, but still feed off the confidence.

That stage was Abu Dhabi, but it didn’t work out to plan.   There were a lot of variables during the week and my caddie Billy was right when he pointed out how ironic it was that at the stage where I was playing my best golf I had to change clubs because of the new regulations.

I didn’t have any problems with the driver, but the irons just didn’t feel right.  I don’t know if I have the wrong shafts, but they just didn’t feel the same.

There was just too much to get used to... MORE »

Winner of the first Dubai World Championship and European No.1 for the second time. It all sounds and feels pretty good to me.

To walk off Greg Norman’s Earth course in the desert with a new record, a second title in five weeks to be crowned Europe’s top golfer was extra special. Indeed, I’d say the whole thing was my greatest achievement to date... and hopefully there is bigger and better to come.

As for the €1.6million prize money, well, I’m told there’s a sale on at Jimmy Choo at the moment so that should keep Laurae in footwear for a few months.

So what of the week in the United Arab Emirates. It's hard to imagine playing better and getting the breaks... MORE »

I'm still a bit speechless. I played fantastic at the weekend. I played well at the start of the week, but 66 and 64 will take some catching,  It's as good as I've ever played, especially under this pressure. It gives me so much confidence to go into the next season.

Ending the 2009 season as Europe's number one gives me greater satisfaction than when I won the Order of Merit in 2000, as back then, I was young and didn't know what it was all about.  I'd only really ever had highs. Then I went through a low that was well documented and it has been a long way back.

Sunday in Dubai was certainly the best day of my career!

... MORE »

I’ve become Portugal Masters Champion since my last blog and it feels simply great.

I’d been climbing the world rankings steadily, but it had been over two years since my last win... and I was starting to wonder if there was going to be a 30th having been stuck on 29 for so long.

I was even starting to doubt myself a little bit by getting into contention and then not finishing the job so it’s nice to be back on the winning trail and particularly in Portugal where Oceanico do a great job for golf.

The win will probably be remembered for one particular shot on 17 during the final round where I couldn’t afford any mistakes.  I was stuck between... MORE »

So near and yet so far at Turnberry.  It was disappointing although third place in a major is not to be sniffed at.

To be perfectly honest I thought I had to hole my first putt on the last green, but then to three-putt and miss out on a play-off by one was a bit of a sickener.

I couldn't  see Tom Watson  bogeying the last, since he's such an experienced player, but he did and that left the door open for Stewart Cink to claim the first major title I'm still looking for.

I actually played great all week and even though I had a two-shot lead at one stage in the final round, I never once thought that I had it... MORE »

Losing a play-off for The French Open was in no way the end of the world for me.  I brought only positives away from Paris with me after a very good week there.

I was four shots back at the start of the day so being tied for the lead after 72 holes was a pretty good effort.  Martin Kaymer made the carry on the last at the first extra hole by a foot and I missed it by a foot.  On such margins are titles decided so I didn't have anything to beat myself up over on the way back.

I was top 10 in two driving categories and hit greens in regulation on no fewer than 84 per cent... MORE »

It's US Open time again and with it come back memories of last year's championship in Torrey Pines, San Diego.

That's where I proved to myself that I had the game to win the second major championship of the season. And after failing by just one shot to get in a play-off last year, I'll be aiming to go one better this time.

I'm really looking forward to my first visit to Bethpage Black on Long Island because what happened last year in San Diego showed that when the pressure is on, I have enough game to cope with it. I'll be hoping to get in the same position again this year. My confidence is high and I've got a good draw... MORE »

I've been far and wide since the last time I spoke to you, but nowhere more eventful than Korea, a very interesting place to say the least.

It wasn't so much what happened after I got there that made the trip so memorable, but before we even touched down... and we had three attempts before the wheels touched the tarmac... and then it was in Seoul rather than our intended landing on Jeju Island.

Ours was the only plane to attempt a landing on the afternoon we flew in and after two abortive attempts - which to me were both near-death experiences - we finally opted for Seoul as a safer place to enter the country.

I'd never known conditions like them -... MORE »

After a brilliant holiday in the sun with the wife and kids, it will be back to work for me, at the start of next month.

I'm delighted to be able to show you the photos taken by photographer, Steve Read.  Steve has a great website with a photogallery of golfers, including my mates, Darren, Ernie Els and Paul McGinley.

OK, click on the link above and go and have a quick look!

You'll note that despite concentrating, I managed not to stick my tongue out once!

See you soon!

Lee

I've worked really hard in the gym with Dr Steve since the start of the New Year, in preparation for my return to the Race to Dubai season.  I'm certainly not resting on my laurels!  My next event is the Qatar Masters (22nd January).  My Dad took some photos of me in the gym, which have been posted on the Fitness section of the Gallery.

I have decided not to renew my PGA Tour membership for 2009

 I am very excited about my newly launched Lee Westwood Golf Academy  website.  I have teamed up with Activate Sport to host  nine golf academies at different venues throughout the UK in the summer, for 7... MORE »

I'm now back from South Africa and ready for the large family gathering we're having at home this year.

All that remains is to wish you, your family and friends,

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I'm off to Sun City, one of my favourite places, at the weekend, for the Nedbank Golf Challenge. My family will be joining me.  We really have a great time there and I'm sure my kids will love it too. The hospitality is fantastic.

In the past, we've been on a safari party, which is thankfully set in an enclosure in the safari park, rather than us all being eyed up for lunch by the lions!  One year we had a beach party, which had to be held indoors because of bad weather! Can you believe it?

Then we part company as I set off for my two other scheduled South African events, the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek... MORE »

A lot of people keep asking me about the European Tour's Order of Merit.  To be perfectly honest, I haven't been thinking about it too much. Of course it would be nice to win it, but my focus has to be the Portuguese Masters and trying to win that.  After this week the only other counting event I have is the Volvo Masters and if at the end of it I've won the Order of Merit then great, but if not, I won't worry about it.

Then it's off to the operating theatre for my tonsils out.  They've served me well for 35 years, but now's the time to move on without them. The recovery period can be anything from... MORE »

Lee  withdrew from the Omega European Masters (4th-7th September) as he was suffering from tonsillitis and an ear infection, which had affected his balance, during the final round of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on Sunday and had to pull out of a company day the following Monday due to illness.   He will not take part in further Tour events prior to the Ryder Cup , which takes place from the 19th to the 21st of September.

However, reports on Tuesday had suggested there was a possibility that Lee could possibly be unable to take part in the Ryder Cup having been laid low with a bout of tonsillitis. Lee spoke to Sky Sports to set the record straight... MORE »

Coming back to Oakland Hills certainly stirs some good memories for me from four years ago although my recollection of the Sunday night of the Ryder Cup is a little bit hazy.

The golf course for this year's US PGA Championship is not quite the same as it was then, but it's just length they've added to it and hopefully it's going to suit me.

My last two tournaments in America have seen me finish third in the US Open and second at last week's WGC Bridgestone so I'm hoping to go one better this week. I'm playing all right at the moment and I hope to carry that form through.

Although during the Ryder Cup the fairways were a little bit... MORE »

Thoughts on the Open

I don't think I have ever felt better about my game or more confident coming into a Major championship. Far from being a negative, finishing third in the US Open gave me a good feeling particularly since I got into contention there and didn't back off. Any time you experience something like that in golf with all the experiences and emotions it's got to be something you can fall back on in future tournaments, so I'm hoping to do that this week.

What happened certainly didn't wreck my confidence, but it's a fine line between letting it give you confidence and at the same time having only just missed out, not grilling yourself that you have only just... MORE »