Third Golf Writers award for Lee

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December 17, 2009

Lee Westwood has won the Golf Writers Trophy for the third time, it was announced on Monday night.

Lee Westwood has won the Golf Writers Trophy for the third time, it was announced on Monday night.
A week after being named the European Tour’s Golfer of the Year for the third time, the world number four and Order of Merit winner has now joined Seve Ballesteros as the only three-time recipients of the Golf Writers Trophy.
Catriona Matthew, who won the Ricoh Women’s British Open just 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter Sophie, was the clear runner-up, while Northern Ireland’s emerging star Rory McIlroy finished third.
Westwood, who also claimed the trophy in 1998 and 2000, said: “I am delighted to receive the award once again.
“It is a particular honour to have been chosen for the third time and to become one of only two players, alongside Seve, to have won it three times. That means an awful lot to me, especially when I consider the great players we have had on the European Tour.
“It is Seve who stands out in my mind for his record and his charisma and to be linked with such a great champion makes the award all the more special.
“I would also like to mention Catriona Matthew. She would have been worthy of the award considering what she achieved this year. To have won the Women’s British Open just weeks after giving birth to her second child was a spectacular achievement. I have no idea how she managed it.”
Westwood, who will receive the trophy at the Association’s annual dinner prior to the Open Championship at St Andrews in July, added: “It will be good to pick up the trophy on the week of the Open.
“Hopefully that will be a good omen, especially as it is at the home of golf.
“My priorities next year will once again be to challenge strongly for the majors. I came close this year and hope to do well in all four in 2010. Hopefully, this time I’ll win one.
“To have come through a bad patch and to have returned to the top of my game is really pleasing. I shall fine-tune my game over the winter and return for the Middle East swing in January before heading for the States to prepare my run-in to the Masters.”
Matthew became the first Scot and only the fourth British player to win a major championship in the women’s game following a superb performance at Royal Lytham, which included a course record inward half of 30 in the second round.
The 40-year-old North Berwick golfer had only returned to the tour the week previously at the Evian Masters, where on the eve of the tournament she and her husband had to flee a burning hotel.
She said: “It is fantastic to be honoured in this way. My season was certainly above my expectations.”
McIlroy, 20, won his maiden title in Dubai early in the season and narrowly missed out on being the youngest winner of the money list title since Ballesteros in 1976.