World No.1 sounds good to me.  Sounds even better when a hundred Chinese autograph hunters start shouting: ‘Sign please, number one’... or at least I think that’s what they were saying.It’s actually taken a bit of getting used to, because I hadn’t really appreciated just how big a deal it was.  It’s actually a huge honour and responsibility because I am now representing the sport in the public domain in a much more high profile way than ever before.

It would have been perfect to seal my rise to the top of the world rankings with a win at the HSBC in Shanghai, but one of my Ryder Cup colleagues had other ideas.

Italy’s Francesco Molinari beat me by a shot... MORE »

Hoof It in football (soccer to my American friends) means get rid of the ball as far away and as fast as possible.

In the Westwood household, it has the totally opposite meeting after the events at Doncaster racecourse last Saturday.

That’s when Hoof It, owned by yours truly, came storming home with Kieron Fallon onboard in the 4% Better Off Betfair SP Handicap.

Actually I was a bit better off than 4 per cent even at my modest stakes because not only did I have a few quid on the nose, I also did it in a reverse forecast with the horse that came in second.  Happy days especially since Hoof It came home at 9-1.

But what was... MORE »

Normally in the Welsh valleys all you can hear and see are sheep, male voice choirs and the equivalent of the Severn Estuary in beer being drunk on Six Nations match days.

Well, what we saw and heard at Celtic Manor as Europe beat America by a single point, was something unique not just to Wales but anywhere else in the golfing world. More water may have showered on to the course than tumbles over Niagara Falls in a month, but nothing could douse the enthusiasm and fire of the Welsh crowd.

I thought I’d heard it all. I hadn’t. It was unbelievable. They just never stopped roaring and yet fell unbelievably silent when anybody played a shot. They definitely deserved better... MORE »

It never rains but it pours, they say.  Whoever coined that must have been thinking of Celtic Manor this week and the start of the Ryder Cup.

Unfortunately we weren’t out long before we were back in – drying off our waterproofs and sheltering from the constant downpour that had everybody running for cover.

I’d worked very hard to ensure I was there and it was such a pity that the heavens opened to cause a long delay.  Such is British golf in October, but the rain couldn’t prevent my partner Martin Kaymer and yours truly going two up on Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson before we were rained off.

We were all outwardly calm , but inwardly fired up... not least from... MORE »

We went with high expectations of watching our horse, Hoof It, gallop home at Doncaster Races.

It’s a six-furlong sprinter with a decent line of descendents, but we hadn’t factored in the wind. It was quite a breezy day and Hoof It wasn’t having any of it. Our nag did not see the finishing line, just the backsides of all the others as they steamed past.

Hoof It was blown away and finished stone cold last, relishing neither the extra half furlong he was asked to run nor the head wind he encountered in the straight. But a good day was had by all, nevertheless.

I was always optimistic when I had to pull out of the Bridgestone WGC event... MORE »