Lee Westwood battling back injury as he bids to land third Race to Dubai title

Lee Westwood is battling a back injury as he bids to be crowned as Europe’s No 1 for a third time - 20 years after he ended Colin Montgomerie’s run of seven successive title triumphs.

Lee Westwood talks remotely to the media prior to the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

The 47-year-old Englishman sits fourth in the Race to Dubai standings heading into this week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Estates.

A repeat of his 2009 victory in the event will guarantee him the title, denying leader Patrck Reed and third-placed Collin Morikawa in their bids to become the first Americans to claim the prize and also compatriot Tommy Fleetwood as he bids to repeat a 2017 title triumph.

However, Westwood pulled out of last week’s inaugural Golf in Dubai Championship due to a back problem he’s had since the Masters last month and, though back hitting balls, he also skipped today’s pro-am for the $8 million Rolex Series event starting on Thursday.

“I played Sea Island and couldn’t follow through, hence the poor performance there,” he told reporters in a video call of missing the cut in the RSM Classic, the PGA Tour event held the week after he’d started the Masters strongly before ending up in a tie for 38th behind Dustin Johnson.

“I gave it ten days off and the longest I’ve hit balls since then is between 30 and 40 minutes, hitting a few drivers. I’ve had treatment with Steve McGregor at home and a guy I know who works for Newcastle United FC.

“I’ve had treatment with the guys here and today is the best it’s felt for three weeks. I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to swing properly come Thursday morning.

“I had to pull out of the pro-am this morning, it would have been ridiculous to go from not hitting balls for longer than 30 minutes to having a five-hour pro-am walking around and hitting it 70-odd times.

“I’ve just hit about 12 drivers on the range, which is the most I’ve done for three weeks. I’m going to play nine holes tomorrow, to ease into it gradually.”

Westwood reckons the problem is down to a combination of “age”, not being able to get his usual sessions with physios at home due to Covid-19 restrictions and sitting in a car for long spells driving around Britain for the UK Swing events in a hectic schedule since coming out of lockdown.

“I couldn’t have played last week,” he added. “There’s no point turning up if you’re not going to be competitive. As for this week, I don’t know what’s going to happen, or how I’m going to play. I’m at about 75 per cent so far.

“I can understand if people are disappointed that I didn’t play in the pro-am, but sometimes you just have to do what’s right for your physical wellbeing and getting it right for the tournament.

“Nine holes isn’t perfect preparation going into the event, but I feel like I know this golf course well enough and feel like a couple more sessions of treatment and a gentle nine-hole walk tomorrow will have me, not exactly where I’d be, but not far off.”

Westwood claimed his 25th European Tour victory - a tally that spans four decades - in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January. He’s missed only one cut in 14 events on his home circuit this season and is now hoping he can muster one big final effort in the UAE.

“To win it for a third time would be amazing,” he said of the Race to Dubai title battle. “I’m 48 in April next year, it shows if you keep yourself fairly fit and retain your enthusiasm and mental capacity for the game, as we saw with Bernhard Langer at the Masters, you can carry on playing to a high level for a long, long time.

“The key to playing well for a long time, longevity, is in the mental side of it. You have to want to go away from the golf course, not at tournaments, and still put the hard work in at the gym and on the range.

“People don’t see that hard work, but that’s where it becomes the hardest. It’s alright turning up to tournaments because that gets your competitive juices flowing, but it’s those cold mornings when you need to go out and hit balls for two or three hours or go to the gym and work on your flexibility and your strength, do squats and deadlifts. That’s the time when you need good mental training.”

Westwood, who is now living in Newcastle after a spell in Edinburgh, is a big Nottingham Forest fan and has not enjoyed seeing his team struggle in the Championship this season under new manager Chris Hughton.

“Don’t like to kick a team when they’re down,” he wrote in a post on social media following a 2-0 defeat to Reading on Saturday that left the former European Cup winners just above the relegation zone.

“But I’ll happily come down and have a chat with the lads if CH thinks it might help. I’m obviously a massive Nottingham Forest fan through thick and thin and would gladly try to help.”

Westwood’s other big passion away from golf is horse-racing and he was overjoyed recently when Yorkhill, which he owns, won at 66-1 at Newcastle to earn him £28,000.

Asked what he thought his odds would be this week and could it be a case of beware the injured golfer, he replied with a smile: “I wouldn’t write myself off just yet. I know this golf course as well as anybody, probably better than anybody, I’ll have played it more than anybody.

“The lack of a full practice round isn’t going to get in my way. I think the lack of expectation will help if I’m looking at it from that angle.”

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