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Westwood parts with coach Cowen

Lee Westwood has decided to split with long-time coach Pete Cowen in a bid to put the spark back into his game.

There is also to be another change of caddie for the former world number one in the run-up to next month’s Ryder Cup after he lost Billy Foster to a knee injury in May.

Westwood missed the halfway cut in the USPGA Championship on Friday and has now gone 59 majors without winning one. He will be almost 40 when the next one is played.

“Lee admits he needed to shake things up,” manager Andrew “Chubby” Chandler said.

“He’d lost his focus and his enthusiasm a bit because he wasn’t getting the rewards for his long game. Parting company with Pete is because he’s passing on advice to Lee, but he’s not around to follow it through.

“Lee is very structured about going to the gym, but not about practising. Pete was here for two days with Graeme (McDowell) this week when Lee wanted to work with him, so it just wasn’t working out.

“Lee’s the sort who needs someone standing over him, making him hit chip after chip and telling him what he’s doing wrong. It’s not like he’s got the yips or anything – he just needs to improve his technique.

“He’s not going to have a long game coach for the foreseeable future — there’s nothing wrong with that part of his game, as you could see from the fact he topped the greens in regulation stats here for the first two rounds.”

* Miguel Angel Jimenez has been given a late invitation to next week’s Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles — and do not be surprised if he is seen seated next to Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal at some point in the week.

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