LIV Golf man has reporters in stitches at Open | Golf News

Lee Westwood’s outstanding back 9 at The Open Championship has given him hope of qualifying for next yr’s event, with a candid comment from his spouse and a mid-round tuna sandwich probably marking the pivotal second.

Westwood, who started the third spherical at Royal Portrush three-under-par, shortly discovered himself one-over after a tough begin. However, the LIV Golf star and former world No.1 rallied spectacularly, ending the day tied for 14th at five-under-par.

Securing a high 10 end in Northern Ireland on Sunday would grant Westwood an invite to next yr’s Open at Royal Birkdale— an important purpose for the golfer who had to qualify for Portrush through a 36-hole last after slipping in the rankings.

With his spouse, Helen Storey, caddying for him, Westwood obtained some blunt advice following his early struggles on Saturday, adopted by an offer of food that appeared to increase his spirits.

“Yeah, there were some pearls of wisdom coming out of Mrs. Westwood’s mouth today,” the Ryder Cup icon admitted. “What did she say? Something about not expecting to be four-over through six. But there’s a few birdie chances, I think she said.

“And then on the tenth tee it was the important thing one: ‘Do you need half a tuna sandwich?’ If you begin interesting to my abdomen, then there’s only a method for me. That’s that means.” The press room burst into laughter when Westwood quipped: “Nothing will get me going like a tuna sandwich. Yeah, I’m going to have a tuna sandwich on the first tee tomorrow.”

Aware that this might be his final showing at The Open, Westwood maintained a philosophical outlook despite his initial round difficulties. “I’ve set no objectives for this week at all by any means,” he declared. “That’s why I actually wasn’t that disillusioned when I used to be four-over through six because I assumed, it is The Open Championship, how many more am I going to get to play? You may as properly get pleasure from it.

“There’s no point in being four-over through six and sulking and being miserable and thinking, ‘there goes my Open Championship chance this year.’ You might as well just enjoy the surroundings, enjoy the feedback from the crowd because they’re great, and just plot along and try and figure out what was going wrong with my swing and why I was four-over through six, [and] turn it around.

“Patience is the important thing typically, and 52 years of age, I’ve received a lot of information of my golf swing, and I figured it out, figured it out fast.” In recent years, Westwood has often had his wife caddie for him, moving away from a long-standing partnership with his former caddie Billy Foster.

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Discussing his choice to have her on the bag at Portrush, he shared with the press: “She caddied for me in the qualifying, and I favor to have her caddying for me whenever she will.

“We have a good record around here from finishing fourth six years ago. Yeah, it was an easy decision for me to make. Probably harder for her. She’d probably rather be at home riding a horse.”

Heading into Sunday’s last showdown, Westwood is trailing by 9 strokes behind the chief Scottie Scheffler, who sits comfortably at 14-under-par, 5 photographs clear of Haotong Li in second place.

Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy are set to tee off just forward in the second-to-last group, holding scores of nine-under and eight-under respectively.