News
Lee Westwood and his new lease on life, even without a major
Stories of interest you might have missed…
Getty Images
Lee Westwood still has not won a major championship, yet it no longer seems to haunt him, Derek Lawrenson of the Daily Mail writes on the eve of the British Open.
“Back in 2013 you worried that it would haunt Westwood all his days if he didn’t win a major but so much has changed off the course since then, including an acrimonious split from Laurae, his wife of 16 years, that it seems to have brought a fresh perspective.
Westwood now lives in Edinburgh near his two kids Sam and Poppy, and has moved on romantically as well, with girlfriend Helen Storey a regular companion at tour stops.
“It’s a long time since I’ve seen Lee as happy and content as he is right now,” his manager Chubby Chandler, said.
Justin Leonard: ‘Happier than he’s ever been’
Since Justin Leonard won the British Open at Royal Troon in 1997, much has changed, Melanie Hauser at PGATour.com writes in this profile catching up with Leonard 19 years later. A native Texan, he has moved his family to Aspen, Colo., for instance.
“That his game hasn’t been as sharp as he wanted for several years now is a simple fact. It goes along with that mid-40s lull most players hit and, honestly, that’s OK,” she writes.
“Golf, you see, is only part of Leonard’s life these days. Family and faith top the list, followed by a limited playing schedule and testing the waters as a broadcaster for Golf Channel/NBC. The PGA TOUR Champions is six years away – too far to really think very hard about.”
The upshot? “Leonard is happier than he’s ever been,” Hauser writes.
Finding Troon: Enter time machine and select reverse
“There is an old joke about the best way to get to Troon, which is to get into a time machine and select ‘reverse’. It may be glib, but it gives a sense of this wonderfully quaint, old-fashioned seaside town on the Ayrshire coast,” the Telegraph’s Richard Bath writes in a look at the site of the British Open this week.