Lee gives Torrance food for thought

LEE WESTWOOD may have woken up from his golfing nightmare just in time to play a significant part as Europe try to win back the Ryder Cup.

In the week that he plunged to a new low of 148th in the world rankings - he was lying fourth in May last year - Westwood was paired with Colin Montgomerie on the first day of official practice at The Belfry.

And the two former European number ones combined to beat Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn three and two - a result that forced Clarke to ask his manager Andrew ‘‘Chubby’’ Chandler for the £200 that was bet on the match.

Westwood, coming up to the second anniversary of his last win and without a single top 10 finish all year, said: ‘‘I seem to be making good progress, making a lot of good shots and not too many destructive ones. I think I only hit one today.’’

The improvement in his play started to become evident during the summer, but perhaps the most significant moment came last Thursday when he and Chandler arranged to visit The Belfry and Torrance took the opportunity to play with him. Paul McGinley made up a four.

For the first few holes Torrance - a non-playing captain, of course - was the star. He stood five under par after seven holes.

Westwood was not able to live with that, but at the turn Torrance decided it was time to offer words of advice and the change on the back nine was noticeable.

‘‘Sam did a good captain’s job,’’ commented Chandler, ‘‘and the following day Lee went round Lindrick (the Sheffield course where Britain and Ireland beat the Americans in 1957) in eight under.

‘‘He looked good again today and I think he’s given Sam a nice problem. The way he was playing it would have been difficult to play him in the foursomes, but now he’s playing properly again you’d want him in there.

‘‘It gives Sam another option and the more Sam has the better.

‘‘You can see the change in Lee. He was finding fault in everything, but suddenly past form does not make any difference.

‘‘It was tough for him when he wasn’t playing well. Mentally he’s very strong, but that can mean you can be mentally strong negatively. When he bogeyed the last two holes of the Open to miss the cut I was in a car with him straight afterwards and he was heartbroken.

‘‘It’s not been a pretty 15 months and my job has been to keep his spirits up and make sure he does his job with the media and his sponsors.

“But this is a huge week for him and he’s almost out there with nothing to lose because people know he’s not been playing well.

“He’s not had juice (adrenaline) flowing for 18 months, but he’s really looking forward to this and he knows that if he shoots 75 and wins he will be a hero. It’s not about shooting 66 here.’’

Westwood, who through a new diet and exercise regime has lost around one and a half stones in the last few months, is glad the match is almost upon him.

“You get used to people asking you how you’re playing with a tone in their voice that they’re expecting you to say ‘crap’,’’ he said. ‘‘I think that’s a bit wearing after a while.

“I enjoy the Ryder Cup because it’s team golf and there’s always good camaraderie in the European camp.’’

As for his pairing with Montgomerie - Westwood played with Clarke four times out of four in Boston three years ago - he commented: ‘‘I always enjoy playing with him and we seem to play well together. We seem to bring the best out of each other. We feed off each other, we have a laugh and get very light-hearted on the way round. He’s an easy guy to get on with.’’

Curtis Strange says he is pretty sure who plays on Friday - afternoon as well as morning. Everybody watching should have a pretty good idea today when they venture back on the course.