Sometimes in golf, you can be one of the best players in the world and even the very best but when it comes to the crunch, those major championships still elude you time and time again.
We all know golf is one of the cruellest sports out there and over the years we’ve seen countless tales of heartbreak and near-misses to go alongside those moments of sheer glory and delight for those who do get it over the line.
In terms of golf as a sport, winning one of the four majors is the biggest achievement a professional golfer can manage.
Sure enough, being world number one is a milestone, as is being involved in a Ryder Cup. But if you aren’t winning majors, then you’ll look back on your career with disappointment, especially if those other landmarks have been achieved.
Sadly, for current LIV Golf star Lee Westwood, this looks very much like being the case in what has been a glittering career marred by a lack of big wins.
Lee Westwood’s major near-misses despite being world number one
It must be put on record that Lee Westwood is one of the finest European golfers to ever play the game and his career, despite the lack of major wins, is one to be proud of.
However, when he does eventually hang up the clubs, Westwood will have plenty to look back on and moments of what might have been.
Westwood has 44 wins as a pro and is 8th all time for European Tour wins with 25. But when it came to the majors, he just never got over the line.
He’s finished second at The Masters twice. In 2010, he led by a shot before losing out to Phil Mickelson in the final round, while in 2016, it was fellow Englishman Danny Willett who shocked the world to make sure Westwood and Jordan Spieth didn’t win.
2010 also saw him finish second in The Open, while prior to that, 2008 saw a T3 at the US Open and 2009 brought a T3 at the PGA Championship. Westwood would then finish third again in the US Open, this time in 2011.
Frustratingly for Westwood, one of his US Open seconds came when Rory McIlroy happened to dominate at Congressional, in a week where McIlroy was simply not going to be stopped.
Now over on the LIV tour and with chances at the majors waning, not to mention he is 52, Lee Westwood might never get the chance to rectify his big career disappointment.
Lee Westwood’s Ryder Cup record is one to be proud of
While we talk here about Lee Westwood not winning majors, the one big thing he can be proud of in his career is his Ryder Cup record.
Westwood has made 11 appearances for Team Europe, emerging on the winning team seven times.
He’s also contributed 24 points in those appearances, level with Bernhard Langer and second to only Nick Faldo and Sergio Garcia.
It’s a great shame that the issues with LIV and the DP World Tour mean we might never see Westwood captain Europe, something he would have no doubt dearly loved to do.
But in terms of a career well made, Westwood has more than achieved and while that major disappointment will linger, a quick glance at his Ryder Cup output shows his class.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
