The worlds of football and golf have always been close bedfellows.
For a footballer, the sport of golf is the perfect after-training activity and a way to scratch their competitive itch away from the pitch, while plenty of golfers are happy to indulge their favourite players by inviting them for a round or two.
Former world number 1 Lee Westwood is a keen football fan, who supports Nottingham Forest, plus his local non-league side Worksop Town.
Lee Westwood on his footballer run-ins
Westwood also clearly has a number of famous footballers in his contact list, not least former England striker and Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer, who twice asked to caddy for Westwood at the Masters, only to be denied both times.
“Alan was due to caddy for me on the Par 3 Contest, but on the first occasion, my wife Helen did it instead,” Westwood tells FourFourTwo. “I promised him that he could do it the next time.
“The following year I told him he could definitely do it and he had the overalls on, he’d gone to get me some practice balls to warm up, then a storm came over and it was the first time in the history of the Masters that the Par 3 Contest was cancelled completely. He didn’t even get to walk out to the first tee and was absolutely gutted.”
So who else would Westwood consider from the world of football to have as a caddy?
“Ryan Taylor has caddied for me in the past, that was good,” Westwood continues. “Jimmy Bullard is another one who loves his golf, but he’s mad! I’m not sure I could have him as my caddy as he would never shut up and would drive me crazy!”
Plenty of footballers consider themselves to be good golfers, but who does Westwood think is the best?
“Jimmy Bullard by a long way. I said to him that if he worked hard and got his head down, he could probably compete on the Legends Tour. If he got a couple of invites to those tournaments and got used to playing under that pressure, his game is good enough for that level.”
And on the flipside, Westwood also reveals the golfer who is the best at football.
“Sergio Garcia. He was president of his hometown team in Spain called Borriol. He also played a bit for them too, so he’s definitely the best. It’s a shame Forest missed out on the Champions League as we said we’d go together if Real Madrid came up against them.
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