Lee Westwood Needs To Place Some Urgency On Winning a Major

Lee Westwood has been the most consistent player on the face of the planet over the past two years, which is why he has recently supplanted Tiger Woods as the new No. 1 ranked player in the world.

Westwood has finished T-3 or better at four of his last five major championships, and gave himself an excellent chance to win this year’s Player Championship, which is regarded by some as golf’s fifth major.

But for all of Westwood’s consistency, there is a glaring hole in his resume—he has yet to win a major championship.

During those four Sundays Westwood was in contention at majors over the past two years, he hasn’t really done anything that would warrant a “choke” label; he just hasn’t done quite enough to win.

Now, for the first time, we may have found out why that is.

During an interview with The Sun, the following exchange occurred between Westwood and reporter Rob Beasley:

Westwood: Winning a Major doesn't make you the best player in the world. No, being the best player in the world is all about consistency—just look at the world rankings. I have way more points than anyone else. And if you look at the number of tournaments, you'll see I have played five, six, seven tournaments LESS than most other people—and yet I'm still world No. 1.

Beasley: So would you rather stay world No. 1 throughout 2011 OR win a Major?

Westwood: Well, I've been world No. 1 now and I've never won a Major so, obviously, I would like to win one. But I wouldn't swap world No. 1 for a Major, no way.

Um, it’s probably about time that someone hands Westwood a golf history book.

You see, history cares little about mathematically generated world ranking points.

True greatness in the game of golf is defined by one thing and one thing only—the number of major championships a player wins during the course of his career.  

If Westwood were to leave the game of golf today, 20 years from now, his name would simply pop-up in history books as that guy who also happened to be playing in the final pairing on Sunday during some truly historic moments in the game’s history…and that’s about it.

Who was the number one player in the world in 1986? Greg Norman? Seve Ballesteros?

Who won the 1986 Honda Classic? Who cares!

Who won the 1986 Masters? Well, that’s easy. It was Jack Nicklaus.

The sooner Westwood forgets about the comical world golf ranking system, the Ryder Cup, the Race to Dubai and any other non-relevant achievements, the sooner he will realize exactly what he needs to do in order to be remembered in this game.

Unless Westwood puts his name on at least one major championship trophy, he will be just another good player to have come and gone…and no amount of computer generated points will do anything to change that.