Westwood aims to emulate Mickelson’s feat at British Open

Lee Westwood is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Phil Mickelson’s historic PGA Championship win at the age of 50 as the Englishman aims to finally win a major championship at the British Open this week.

Westwood will break the record for major appearances without winning one if he fails at his 88th attempt at Royal St George’s.

However, the 48-year-old still sees himself as a contender and believes Mickelson’s win to become the oldest ever major champion shows that a Golfer’s prime has been extended by improvements in sports science.

“I think we’re from a generation that’s maybe had the benefit of sports medicine and things like that, maybe a little bit more analytical and knowing what’s going on,” he said.

“My and Phil’s generation are now reaping the benefits of the hard work for the last 20 years, analysing movements in the swing and working on injury prevention to those parts of the body that get injured.

“I think when you get to our age, we maybe don’t treat it as seriously as we once did, and it’s easy to play Golf when you’re a little bit more flippant about it and see it for what it is, getting a small ball in a small hole.”

Far from being embarrassed by his major record, Westwood also displayed pride at his consistency that has seen him play in every British Open since 1995.

Nine times he has finished in the top three of a major and tied for fourth the last time the British Open was played in 2019.

“I do care about that. That’s nice, that record,” he added on his number of major appearances. “It shows I’ve been a good player for a long, long time. There’s not many people who have played in as many major championships as me.”

Disqualification for bubble breaches: Players that break strict coronavirus protocols at the tournament face being disqualified, tournament organisers the R&A said on Wednesday.

Crowds of up to 32,000 will also be present for the four days’ play in Sandwich.

However, players are still subject to guidelines which prohibit them from going to bars, restaurants and supermarkets during tournament week.

They also have to stay in either approved hotels or private accommodation, which can be shared with up to four members of their team, but not other players.

“I think he would be at risk of being disqualified,” said R&A chairman Martin Slumbers when asked what the punishment would be for a breach of the rules.

“We’ve set out protocols for the championship. We’ve talked to all the players. We’ve made it very clear it is to protect them and their fellow competitors.

“It’s to give them, all the players, the very best chance of all of them being here on Sunday afternoon and able to play.”

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, two-time major winner Bubba Watson and former British Open winner Zack Johnson have all withdrawn after either testing positive for Covid-19 or being deemed a Covid close contact.

Slumbers said he was particularly conscious of minimising the risk of players who have not tested positive being deemed close contacts of a positive case.

“The worst thing you can get is a player being contact traced, because as you know over here, if you’re contact traced, you’re out for 10 days and quarantine and you can’t test out of it, so you’re out of the championship,” he added.

“When you go to the heart of all the protocols for the players, it’s solely around contact tracing.”

The stricter protocols than that many players are used to on the PGA tour in America have drawn criticism from some.

Rickie Fowler said before travelling across the Atlantic that players were “jumping through some hurdles and dodging bullets” while the R&A opened the gates to fans.

However, world number one Dustin Johnson said all players just have to accept the rules as they are.

“I think The R&A have done a great job this week. Obviously we knew what we were coming into. They did a good job of providing us all the rules and regulations prior to coming over,” said the two-time major champion.

Agencies