Westwood and Kaymer, men of the moment
CONGRATULATIONS are due to Lee Westwood, who is set to replace Tiger Woods as world No1 later this month. It’s fantastic news for a player who has been at the top of his game for some time now.
Westwood might not have finished high enough at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at the weekend to overtake Woods immediately, but I love the fact that he had a go, despite struggling with an injury. He’s got a great attitude.
All that remains for the Englishman now is to win that elusive first Major, but I’m sure that will only be a matter of time.
Will losing top spot bother Tiger? I don’t think so. He knew this was going to happen months ago and if he had wanted to avoid it he would have played in more tournaments.
Another man I really want to pay tribute to is Martin Kaymer, who became the first player since Woods in 2006 to win three tournaments in a row with victory in the Dunhill at St Andrews.
The boy is young – he’s still just 25 – but he has shown he has got class. He demonstrated his huge quality in the USPGA in August with some of the birdies he achieved at Whistling Straits.
I have played that course myself and some of the shots he pulled off were very, very hard indeed.
Kaymer, like his fellow German Bernhard Langer, is also extremely cool under pressure, as he showed in wrapping up his first Major title.
He has developed into a superb player even quicker than I expected. With players like him and Rory McIlroy coming through, the European Tour looks in fine shape for the future.