British star at The Open leaves reporters in stitches with comments on caddie wife
Lee Westwood turned his fortunes around with a stunning back nine at The Open Championship, crediting a frank remark from his wife and a timely tuna sandwich for the turnaround.
Kicking off the third round at Royal Portrush on three-under-par, the LIV Golf player soon found himself struggling, dropping to one-over after losing four shots in the first six holes.
Yet, the ex-world No.1 managed to regain composure, storming back with a 29 on the back nine to end the day tied for 14th at five-under-par.
Securing a top 10 finish in Northern Ireland on Sunday would secure Westwood an invite to next year's Open at Royal Birkdale, a significant goal for the golfer who had to secure his spot at Portrush through a 36-hole final qualifier after tumbling down the world rankings.
With his wife, Helen Storey, caddying for him, she delivered some blunt advice following his rough start on Saturday, coupled with an offer of food that seemed to do the trick, reports the Mirror US.
"Yeah, there were some pearls of wisdom coming out of Mrs. Westwood's mouth today," the Ryder Cup icon shared. "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 10th tee it was the key one: 'Do you want half a tuna sandwich?' If you start appealing to my stomach, then there's only one way for me. That's that way."
The press area erupted with laughter as Lee Westwood quipped, "Nothing gets 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 outing at The Open, Westwood maintained a philosophical outlook despite his initial struggles on the course.
"I've set no goals for this week at all whatsoever," he shared. "That's why I really wasn't that disappointed when I was four-over through six because I thought, it's The Open Championship, how many more am I going to get to play? You might as well enjoy 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.'".
Instead, Westwood chose to savour the experience, saying: "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 key sometimes, and 52 years of age, I've got plenty of knowledge of my golf swing, and I figured it out, figured it out quick."
In recent times, Westwood has often opted for his wife to carry his bag over his long-time caddie Billy Foster.
Westwood has opened up about his choice to have his partner on the bag at Portrush, telling the press: "She caddied for me in the qualifying, and I prefer to have her caddying for me whenever she can.
"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 final round, Westwood is nine shots behind leader Scottie Scheffler, who sits comfortably at 14-under-par, five shots clear of Haotong Li in second place. Matt Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy are set to tee off just before them, with scores of nine-under and eight-under respectively.
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