Wilson goes from carrying Westwood's bag to carrying Europe's hopes

Published on Thursday 18 September 2008 10:12

OLIVER WILSON will complete an amazing transformation from Lee Westwood's caddie to his Ryder Cup team-mate when it gets under way tomorrow.

Despite an age gap of seven years, growing up in Mansfield and Worksop meant Wilson and Westwood first crossed paths in 1990, when the ten-year-old Wilson carried Westwood's bag in a junior tournament at Oakmere Park Golf Club.

Eighteen years on, the two find themselves on the same European side, attempting to win the Ryder Cup for an unprecedented fourth time in succession at Valhalla, and Wilson would love to make it a Nottinghamshire affair.

"Lee's been around a lot and we get on quite well," said Wilson, who secured the final automatic qualifying position with a brave tenth-place finish in the last counting event at Gleneagles.

"He gave me some advice last week and we played together on Wednesday. I think we would make a good pairing to be honest, Notts against the US, that would be good!

"I've never really known Lee that well. I grew up 20 minutes away from him but he was a little bit older and my first memory of Lee was when I caddied for him at a junior competition.

"Having somebody who's such a great winner as Lee from my home county, I've fed off that a little and you're always going to try to set your sights on them and try to live up to what they've done. "I've got a long way to go, but I'll keep trying."