Masters Week - Lee Westwood the nearly-man of golf?

 As the Masters approaches one  man has been so near and yet so far from victory in this prestigious event and the chance to wear the coverted green jacket  slipped away from hism last year leaving him in a tie for 3rd place. Lee Westwood now lives in the  golfing paradise of  southern Florida . The last 12 months have been difficult and in spite of leading The Open at Muirfield last summer with 12 holes to play.  His world ranking has spiralled downwards at an alarming rate and he has missed the cut twice already this year.

He recalls a moment of frustration last month when his six iron found a sand trap on the seventh fairway at the prestigious WGC Cadillac Championships,

‘I threw the club out of sheer frustration and it helicoptered down the fairway,’  he said. His caddie Billy Foster looked at him, then said with a shrill voice: ‘Oooooh!’ However his anger instantly died down at the sarcasm of his friend and trusted caddie. He said ‘If my 12 year old son Sam had done that I would have told him off.’

Yet the point of the story is a revealing one. It illustrates that Westwood, who is approaching his 64th major championship at the Masters this week with a record that when judged against the cold, heartless statistics of history, labels him the nearly-man of golf, is still passionate about finding the elusive victory he craves.