Open Championship: Lee Westwood Joins Sergio Garcia at Royal Portrush
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
The Open Championship is only a few weeks away, and the hype around Royal Portrush is booming. With the final field still trickling in, players are grinding through qualifiers, hoping to punch their ticket to golf's oldest major.
Earlier this week, Sergio Garcia secured his spot in dramatic fashion, and now another LIV Golf veteran has joined the party. Lee Westwood, in what might be the most remarkable comeback of the season, will take part.
BETHESDA, MARYLAND - MAY 25: Lee Westwood of England watches a tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the Senior PGA Championship 2025 at Congressional Country Club on May 25, 2025...
BETHESDA, MARYLAND - MAY 25: Lee Westwood of England watches a tee shot on the first hole during the final round of the Senior PGA Championship 2025 at Congressional Country Club on May 25, 2025 in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo by) More
Getty Images
Westwood, 52, has not played a major since 2022. Had he missed out this year, it would've marked his third straight absence from The Open, a tournament he's called "the greatest championship in golf."
But on Tuesday, he delivered when it mattered most. Competing at Dundonald Links in Scotland, Westwood fired rounds of 70 and 67, finishing at 7-under 137 to top the Final Qualifying leaderboard.
The performance earned him one of five coveted spots from the venue and marked his 92nd career major start.
"I've always said it's the greatest championship in golf," Westwood told reporters after sealing his place.
"As a British player, you get phenomenal support. I'm just looking forward to enjoying the week at Portrush, seeing a few old friends and enjoying that golf course."
Lee Westwood will be at Royal Portrush after posting -7 in Open Final Qualifying at Dundonald.
A different class today. pic.twitter.com/kqlnjK9mOq — John Turnbull (@JohnTurnbull03) July 1, 2025
This return means more than just another tee time. Westwood has played 27 times at The Open, making 21 cuts, with six top-10 finishes and a runner-up in 2010.
His last appearance at Royal Portrush was in 2019, where he tied for fourth, nine shots behind winner Shane Lowry.
The road back wasn't easy. After wrapping up LIV Golf Dallas, Westwood flew overnight to Scotland, battling jet lag and fatigue.
"I've been up since half-past one this morning," he admitted, "so I was starting to feel it."
But grit won out, and the former World No. 1 now joins fellow LIV qualifiers Sergio Garcia, Lucas Herbert, and Dean Burmester in the 156-player field. The Open Championship begins on July 17th.
More Golf: Aldrich Potgieter sees parallels with Scottie Scheffler after first win
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
27 minutes ago
- New York Post
Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota was on a 10-hour drive when he died in car crash — because he wasn't allowed to fly
Liverpool soccer star Diogo Jota was on a 10-hour drive to a ferry in Spain when the Lamborghini he was in crashed, killing him and his brother — because doctors told him not to fly post-surgery, according to reports. The 28-year-old Portuguese forward had been heading from Portugal back to the UK to kick off pre-season training when his Lamborghini veered off a road in Zamora, Spain, Thursday night, the BBC reported. Jota had been traveling with his brother, Andre Silva, from Porto, Portugal, to Santander, Spain, where there's a ferry route to Portsmouth, England, when tragedy struck, the outlet reported. It's unclear who was driving. 4 Diogo Jota controls the ball during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg football match between Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) and Liverpool (ENG) at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on March 5, 2025. AFP via Getty Images The soccer star had opted to take the longer route because he'd been advised by doctors not to get on a plane while recovering from a minor lung-related surgery, according to Telegraph Sport. The Lamborghini's tire appeared to have burst as it was 'overtaking' another vehicle and both men died when the car veered off the road and burst into flames, according to investigators. The deadly crash happened along an isolated stretch of highway near the Portuguese border. 4 Jota had opted to take the longer route because he'd been advised by doctors not to get on a plane. OceanProd – 4 General view of the crash site where Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva lost their lives, showing the wreckage of the Lamborghini Huracan at kilometre 65 of the A-52, near the town of Cernadilla, close to Zamora, Spain. Getty Images The Premier League winner married the mother of his three children, Rute Cardoso, two weeks before the crash. Meanwhile, disturbing images of the soccer player's burned and mangled Lamborghini on the side of a road emerged Friday, according to the Spanish media outlets. Fans and fellow players were devastated by his untimely death. 4 The car crash occurred just after midnight on July 3, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 'Doesn't make any sense,' soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo wrote on Instagram Friday. 'Just now we were together in the National Team, just now you were married.' The bodies of the two brothers were taken to a forensics unit in Zamora, where autopsies will be performed, police said. The funeral is expected to be Saturday in Porto, Portugal. With Post wires
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
It's not just Novak Djokovic. Marin Cilic and other 30-somethings make their mark at Wimbledon
Associated Press LONDON (AP) — After wrapping up a straight-set win on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic ran into another 38-year-old in the Wimbledon locker room. Gael Monfils, who was born about eight months before Djokovic and is the only player in the men's draw who's older, was waiting for the start of his second-round match. 'He kind of smiled at me and said, 'Good day in the office,'' Djokovic recounted. 'At this age, he said, we need those types of days.' Thursday was certainly a good day for the old guard at Wimbledon. At a time when the new generation — led by Carlos Alcaraz, 22, and Jannik Sinner, 23 — is starting to take over, there will be six men in the third round who are 33 or older. (Monfils' match against Marton Fucsovics, 33, was suspended because of darkness Thursday and will be completed Friday). On Thursday, Djokovic beat 35-year-old Dan Evans; the 34-year-old Gregor Dimitrov ousted Corentin Moutet; 35-year-old Jan-Lennard Struff finished off a win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in a match that had been suspended on Wednesday; and 36-year-old Marin Cilic beat British No. 4 seed Jack Draper, who's 23. The 37-year-old Adrian Mannarino advanced Wednesday. And, as Struff pointed out, those turn-back-the-clock performances came after yet another 38-year-old, Fabio Fognini, pushed two-time defending champion Alcaraz to five sets in the first round. 'It's amazing,' said Struff, who faces Alcaraz on Centre Court on Friday. 'You see a lot of older players playing good tennis. So that motivates me, as well, to keep going.' Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion and twice a major runner-up elsewhere, is coming back to top-level tennis after having two knee operations and then playing in lower-level Challenger Tour events this year to boost his ranking. He had to make it through qualifying rounds just to get into the bracket at the French Open, where he lost in the first round. He's making his first Wimbledon appearance since 2021, and is pleased see some players his own age still around. 'It's great to see them playing, continuing to play well," Cilic said, "and using this experience to play great in Grand Slams.' The older guys, it seems, often stick together behind the scenes. 'All of us, we have tremendous respect for each other," Dimitrov said. "We do these things, little gather-ups when we're having lunch, and even in the locker rooms. The funniest thing is, it takes us a lot more time to prepare. Sometimes you have to prepare an hour and a half for a 30-minute hit.' Being one of the veterans on tour also makes it easier to appreciate life as a tennis player, Dimitrov said. But he acknowledged that some other things were better when he was younger. 'Would I like to have things … a little bit easier on the body? Yes,' he said. "But at this point, being able to compete against the guys, winning matches still, giving a hard time to the best players — that's one reason to keep on playing.' ___ AP tennis:
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Knicks superfan Stephen A. Smith can't wait to watch ‘Michael McBride' on the court next year
Some Knicks diehards have long accused Stephen A. Smith of being a fake fan, and the ESPN commentator didn't help his case Thursday afternoon. Smith was listing off the Knicks' hiring of new head coach Mike Brown on 'SportsCenter' when he mentioned 'Michael McBride' — an unfortunate butchering of New York guard Miles McBride. 'You're talking about Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Mitchell Robinson, Michael McBride, Josh Hart,' Smith said, seemingly oblivious to his mistake. Fans immediately took to social media in frustration. 'We gotta excommunicate this clown from the fanbase,' one user wrote on X. 'Someone revoke this man's ability to speak about the Knicks please,' another user wrote, with a third sarcastically adding, 'Diehard Knicks fan, right?' Smith, a Bronx native, has been a high-profile Knicks supporter for years — but fans have criticized him for overhyping the team when they're good and ripping into them when things don't go well. The Knicks' Miles McBride during a game on April 13. Getty Images There's also a notion that Smith's knowledge of the team is lackluster, which won't be helped by his 'Michael McBride' mistake. The 'First Take' analyst has a long track record of going on rants about the team, most notably his rampage after the team picked Kristaps Porzingis fourth overall in the 2015 draft. 'We have been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, run amuck and flat-out deceived by Phil Jackson and the New York Knicks!' Smith yelled in the viral tirade. Porzingis went on to make an All-Star Game while with the Knicks before getting traded to the Mavericks in 2019. Stephen A. Smith at Madison Square Garden on May 16. Getty Images Smith voiced his optimism for the Knicks next season after the hiring of Brown, saying he expects them to be back in the Eastern Conference finals with the Celtics navigating without Jayson Tatum, the Bucks operating without Damian Lillard and the Magic and Cavaliers still unproven. 'Why should we expect less from the New York Knicks?' Smith said. 'We should expect at least the same.'
