Lee Westwood’s ascension to the throne reserved for the world’s best golfer is testament to a devastating marriage of skill, mental fortitude, discipline and serious dedication.
The 37 year old Englishman’s journey to be ranked Number One on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) – the year after being crowned Europe’s Number One in The Race to Dubai - is one of astonishing consistency that has yielded the ultimate reward.
Westwood’s level of performance over the past 24 months (upon which the OWGR is based) has been simply the best on the planet and has made him only the fifth European to be ranked World Number One.
Of the 46 tournaments Westwood has played in, he has finished in the top ten an astonishing 24 times, including victories at the Dubai World Championship and Portugal Masters in 2009 - when he also tied third in The Open Championship and US PGA Championship - in addition to winning the 2010 St Jude Classic as well as finishing second at this year’s Masters Tournament and Open Championship.
Those performances form the foundation of Westwood’s dominant World Ranking, but his overall consistency around the globe is just as important as the Englishman pointed out during a media teleconference on Sunday night.
“The World Ranking is about consistency,” said Westwood, who was Ranked 266th during the worst period of his career in 2003. “It is not just about winning Majors – if that was the case then every time someone won a Major they would automatically be Number One.
“We all know that isn’t the case. The World Ranking is about consistency over a certain period and that’s why I am up there at the moment. It is a huge boost for my confidence and I hope I can play well enough to stay up there for a while.
“To be able to sit down and say that I am the best player on the planet has got to be the most satisfying moment of my career so far.”
If Westwood can finally shake off the calf-muscle injury that has seriously impacted his defence of The Race the Dubai and get back to the form that he has shown over the past two years then he will be a difficult man to catch at the OWGR’s summit.
He will return to action at this week’s WGC – HSBC Champions, where he will go head-to-head with the men now pursuing him at the top, Martin Kaymer, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
As Westwood makes the long journey east, he can look back upon a hugely satisfying career that peaked on Sunday evening when it was confirmed he would be recognised as the best player in the world.
Westwood turned professional in 1993 and his prodigious talent was soon channelled into a prolific winner of tournaments around the globe. He won his first professional tournament at the 1996 Scandinavian Masters and has won a further 31 times around the world since.
He suffered a frustrating loss of form between 2002 and 2003, slumping to 266th on the Rankings, but Westwood, who could have easily disappeared into the wilderness a rich and happy man, went back to basics and started again. After all, he had unfinished business to take care of.
“I had to go back and rebuild the whole thing,” Westwood reflected of the hardest period of his career. “I had to break it all down and go back to the start. It was very tough because you have to get your mind back to a place that you have almost forgotten before you can even start and then you have to do what you believe is right.
“When you are down there you always find hundreds of people offering advice and trying to help you, but you have to get away from all of that and get your head down and work it out.”
Westwood’s climb to the World Number One spot is also a significant victory for The European Tour with the Englishman claiming the vast majority of his World Ranking Points on The European Tour International Schedule.
George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, led the tributes to Westwood’s phenomenal achievement.
He said: “Lee Westwood’s ascent to Number One on the Official World Golf Ranking is a landmark achievement in a career that most professional golfers can only dream of emulating. His level of performance over the last two years has set a new benchmark for consistency in world golf.
“The fact that Lee reached the World Number One spot playing most of his golf on The European Tour gives everyone involved with our Tour an immense amount of satisfaction, and we congratulate Lee and his team on this tremendous achievement.”
