73 Facts About Lee Westwood

Lee John Westwood was born on 24 April 1973 and is an English professional golfer.

Lee Westwood has won tournaments in four decades, the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lee 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.

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

In 1996, Lee Westwood won his first professional tournament, the Volvo Scandinavian Masters, closely followed by the Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters in Japan.

Lee Westwood's 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.

Lee Westwood partnered with Nick Faldo in the Ryder Cup that year.

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

Lee 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.

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

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

Lee Westwood 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.

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

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

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

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

Lee 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.

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

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Lee Westwood claimed another second-place finish at the 2010 Open Championship, although he was a distant runner-up to Louis Oosthuizen.

In May 2011, Lee Westwood contested a playoff at the BMW PGA Championship with fellow Englishman and at the time world number two Luke Donald.

Lee Westwood attempted to follow him in close to the hole but got too much backspin on his pitch and the ball spun back into the water hazard.

Lee Westwood eventually chipped up from the drop zone and went on to make double bogey.

In June 2011, Lee Westwood equalled his best performance at the US Open finishing in a tie for third place at Congressional CC, an event which was dominated by Rory McIlroy.

In December 2011, Lee Westwood shot the lowest round of his career, a 60, at the Thailand Golf Championship.

Lee Westwood followed that up with a 64 to equal the lowest 36-hole total on the Asian Tour and won the tournament by seven shots.

Lee Westwood rejoined the PGA Tour for the 2012 season, stating that "It felt right in a Ryder Cup year" and intimated that he would like to experience the challenge for the FedEx Cup in the end of season playoffs for the first time.

In February 2012, Lee Westwood recorded his best ever performance at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship when he reached the semi-finals for the first time.

Lee Westwood finished in 4th place after losing the consolation match to American Mark Wilson, 1 up.

Lee Westwood continued his fine run of performances in the major championships with a tied third finish at the Masters in April 2012.

Lee Westwood finished two strokes behind Bubba Watson and Louis Oosthuizen and bemoaned his putting performance as the reason he did not win the tournament.

In June 2012, Lee Westwood won the Nordea Masters for the third time, the week prior to the USOpen, with a five stroke victory over Ross Fisher.

At the 2012 US Open, Lee Westwood was in contention again after firing a three-under-par round of 67 in the third round to position himself three strokes behind the leaders.

Lee Westwood shot a four-over-par 75 in his final round to finish in a tie for third, four strokes back at one-over-par.

Lee Westwood has now finished in the top-three eight times in majors without ever winning one.

Lee Westwood won in a sudden-death playoff over Chapchai Nirat, having held a five-stroke lead at the 54-hole stage.

At the 2016 Masters, Lee Westwood finished joint runner-up with Jordan Spieth, three strokes behind winner Danny Willett.

Lee Westwood was briefly only one stroke off the lead during the final round following an eagle on the par five 15th, but bogeyed the 16th to end his chances.

At the 2016 US Open, Lee Westwood was again near the top of the leaderboard after the first three rounds, but playing in the penultimate group during the final round he fell away badly shooting a round 80 to finish T32.

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Lee Westwood holds the record for most major championship appearances without winning, surpassing Jay Haas at the 2021 Open Championship, his 88th major.

On 11 November 2018, Lee Westwood fired an eight-under 64 to storm to a three-shot victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

Lee Westwood won the Dimension Data Pro-Am in 2000 played at the Gary Player Country Club.

In July 2019, Lee Westwood finished tied for fourth in the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.

Lee Westwood has now finished 12 times in the top five of a major without actually winning.

In January 2020, Lee Westwood won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the European Tour.

In March 2021, Lee Westwood held the 54-hole lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Lee Westwood eventually missed out by one shot to Bryson DeChambeau.

The following week, Lee Westwood again held the 54-hole lead at a PGA Tour event; The Players Championship.

Lee Westwood shot an even-par 72 and finished second by one shot to eventual champion Justin Thomas.

In June 2022, Lee Westwood was suspended from the PGA Tour for playing in a LIV Golf event.

Lee Westwood first reached the top 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking in July 1998 and spent a total of 160 weeks in the top 10 between then and August 2001.

Lee Westwood returned to the top 10 briefly at the end of the 2008 season and again after the 2009 PGA Championship.

On 31 October 2010, Lee Westwood became the World number one golfer, ending the reign of Tiger Woods.

Lee Westwood remained World number one for 17 weeks, before being replaced by Martin Kaymer who held the top spot for 8 weeks.

Lee Westwood regained the number one spot after winning the Indonesian Masters on 24 April 2011 and held it for 5 weeks before being replaced by Luke Donald.

Lee Westwood made his Ryder Cup debut in 1997 where he partnered fellow Englishman Nick Faldo in both sets of fourballs and foursomes.

Lee Westwood is the eighth most successful European golfer on points scored, with the second highest scoring rate.

In October 2010, Lee Westwood was a member of the European team that won the 2010 Ryder Cup with a one-point win over the USA.

In September 2021, Lee Westwood played on the European team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin.

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Lee Westwood is the European player who has the greatest number of appearances in Ryder Cup winning teams.

Lee Westwood married Laurae Coltart, the sister of Scottish Ryder Cup player Andrew Coltart, in January 1999.

Lee Westwood is good friends with fellow Ryder Cup star Darren Clarke and from April 2006 he co-owned a private jet with him.

In 2007, Lee Westwood was presented with an Honorary degree of Doctor of Science by Nottingham Trent University.

Lee Westwood announced the creation of the Lee Westwood Golf School in 2010, which offers young golfers the ability to combine golf training with their education as part of their school life.

Lee Westwood is a keen football fan who supports Nottingham Forest.

Lee Westwood is a follower of Dumfries based football club Queen of the South, most likely due to having Andrew Coltart as a former brother-in-law, who himself is a passionate supporter of the Scottish club.

Lee Westwood was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2011 Birthday Honours.