Why Lee Westwood needs to embrace sports psychology

Golf can be a very cruel game and never was that demonstrated more than during last week’s Ryder Cup at Hazeltine where Europe’s most decorated (active) Ryder Cup player Lee Westwood was humbled when missing an 18-inch putt on Saturday in front of a global audience.

Westwood, as 42 pro career victories on five different continents — Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia would suggest, is very much a member of golf’s true aristocracy.

Commonly referred to as being the best active golfer never to have won a major, Westwood, the 10-time Ryder Cup player and former world number one ranked golfer, entered last week with all of the headlines firmly focused on his pursuit of Nick Faldo’s points-scoring record but by the end, most were instead wondering if the 41st Ryder Cup was simply a “bridge too far”.