Westwood: Golf is in urgent need of a shake-up

Golf’s world number one Lee Westwood says he believes the game needs a shake-up to bring it into the 21st century.

Having pledged his loyalty to the European Tour, Westwood will now be forced to miss some big tournaments in the US, notably the ‘fifth major’, the Players Championship.

And he has been criticised by the American media, who cite his lack of a major title and reluctance to play more in the States.

But Westwood tells this week’s Sport Magazine: “It’s unfortunate because I do see it as Us versus Them – we are both fighting for the same dates by putting tournaments on in the same weeks.”

And he adds: “Golf is so slow now. Maybe it should be like the NFL, where they have the clock just to keep everything going. Just to jazz it up a bit…”

Having become world number one at the end of last year, Westwood has had an insight into the pressures that sent Tiger Woods so spectacularly off the rails. Not that there’s any chance of him doing the same: when his dad called to say he’d become world number one, Westwood was shopping for potatoes in Worksop.

But he adds: “There is more responsibility, the eyes of the world are on you. I can see already how much anything I say gets picked up on. I’m representing golf now, not just myself. Knowing how much extra work is involved, I can see why Tiger pulled down the shutters.”

For the full interview, see tomorrow’s Sport magazine or go to www.sport-magazine.co.uk