Quarantine restrictions for entering the United States mean Lee Westwood’s preparations for a rescheduled US PGA Championship should begin in a California hotel room. Instead, he will be front of house as the full European Tour returns to action. Westwood will host the British Masters from Wednesday rather than embark on a two-week period of stateside isolation. He never had any notion of trying to flout the regulations. “It’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?” Westwood says. “And you’ve got to stick to the rules.”
An appearance at Harding Park in San Francisco would have been Westwood’s 83rd major, which only endorses his longevity. His competitive instinct and talent remain intact. “I’m playing as well as ever,” he says.
Yet you get the impression the 47-year-old will not lose sleep over watching the US PGA – and the previous week’s World Golf Championship in Memphis – from afar. It remains to be seen whether quarantine will be eased before September’s US Open. If not, Westwood doesn’t seem minded to travel to New York for that either.
“Right now I look at the situation and would I want to go?” Westwood says. “I am slightly wary of it. If you can do something to prevent added exposure … walking through Heathrow, getting on a plane, then being in San Francisco, being around people who haven’t been taking as serious measures as we have. You’d feel a bit uncomfortable in that situation. What’s more important, your health or playing in a major? I’ve missed majors before.”
Westwood and the European Tour’s biosecure bubble at Close House near Newcastle will be under intense scrutiny. Westwood is perfectly at ease with that as golf tiptoes through a Covid-19 world. “I’m looking forward to it, I don’t feel pressure,” he says. “I like what the European Tour have done in giving things longer than the PGA Tour. When I look across the Atlantic at what’s happening, I’m a little bit worried for them. They don’t seem to have got it under control. We have been a little more cautious over here. Chances are somebody is going to test positive when they are coming from all over the world, but hopefully we can keep it to a minimum.”
Westwood’s social media commentary on the PGA Tour’s restart – from 11 June – has been a source of light entertainment. Scepticism is the none-too-subtle undertone. “I find it hard to believe three people tested positive and they were allowed to play last week,” Westwood says of Dylan Frittelli, Denny McCarthy and Nick Watney.
“I can’t get my head around that. Why have testing if that’s going to be the case? And to pair them all in the same group … ” Westwood laughs at the apparent lunacy of it all.
It would not, however, be accurate to depict Westwood as sneering from a British ivory tower. When asked about the general handling of coronavirus matters close to home, he is candid. “I have been disappointed at the guidance,” he says. “The message that the government put over could have been a lot, lot clearer.
“They put the word out that they were relying on the public to use common sense and I don’t think common sense is in abundance any more. I think common sense is dying out. People need more direction, because they are used to being told what to think nowadays. It feels like they need to be told what to do.
“I have a certain amount of sympathy because this isn’t something we have had to tackle before, but it seems like they’ve not chosen an approach and plan and stuck to it. They’ve got diverted a lot, which isn’t what you want from the leaders of the country. They need to be really strong at times like this.”
Westwood’s own robustness has been boosted by the lockdown loss of two stone. The key? No more than 2,100 calories a day in a more balanced diet, no midweek alcohol and regular Peloton sessions. “It just makes you feel better in yourself, doesn’t it?” he says.
“I’ve won tournaments light and I’ve won tournaments heavy but Nick Price said it years ago, when you finish a round of golf you should feel like you can play another one.
“Over the last couple of years I haven’t played a lot between February and May anyway. I’ve maybe played one or two tournaments in 16 weeks, so it hasn’t really been that difficult for me to not play. On your 28th year on tour, you maybe don’t miss it as much as if you’d only been out there two or three years.”
Westwood was in full agreement with the decision to delay the Ryder Cup by 12 months rather than playing minus spectators. “Above any tournament that one benefits from crowd participation. You have to get the balance between compromises to let the event go ahead and that detracting too much from the tournament.”
There is a knock-on effect for the former world No 1. He has already stated his goal of captaining Europe for the subsequent staging of the biennial event. That Ryder Cup will now take place at the Marco Simone club near Rome in 2023 instead of 2022. “I would still love to do it and I’d still love to do it in Italy,” says Westwood.
“The one-year extension is probably good for Italy. It’s a brand new course so it will give that time to mature, it will give the Europeans a chance to maybe see it in an Italian Open.
“I’ll be 50 as opposed to 49, it will give me another year thinking about playing well and competing. There’s a few plusses.”
It is debatable whether Westwood’s contribution to UK sport has been appropriately recognised. Unforeseen circumstances mean he will be thrust firmly into the limelight at the first of half a dozen consecutive UK tournaments. There should be no harm whatsoever in that, or, indeed, cause for raised eyebrows in US immigration circles.
