Westwood worries McGinley

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September 14, 2010

Paul McGinley believes concerns over Lee Westwood’s fitness have boosted America’s Ryder Cup hopes.

Europe’s vice-captain Paul McGinley believes ongoing concerns over the fitness of Lee Westwood have boosted America’s hopes of retaining the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor next month.
Westwood has not played since being forced to pull out of last month’s WGC Bridgestone Invitational and miss the US PGA Championship with a calf injury.
And McGinley admits Colin Montgomerie’s team may not know whether Westwood is fit enough to compete until the competition gets underway in south Wales.
McGinley said in The Guardian: “A couple of months ago we were quite clear favourites, but in the last two months things have changed. We have been hurt by Lee Westwood’s injury. There’s no doubt about that.
“It’s going to be an unknown factor until Lee turns up that week and we see how he feels, having not competed since The Open. That’s a disappointment for Europe.
“I also think the American team has got a lot stronger over the last two months and we’ve had some issues – none more so than Lee having been injured and not having played. He’s our number one player so I think it’s going to be a very close Ryder Cup.”
Should Westwood not be fit enough to take part in his seventh Ryder Cup, Paul Casey and Justin Rose would be in contention to take his place.
The duo, particularly Casey, were felt by many to be unfortunate to miss out on selection given their good form on the PGA Tour, but McGinley believes that selection for the European team should be decided by performances on the European Tour.
” My views are very strong,” he said. “We’re a European team. We’re a European Tour. And even though a lot of players are playing in America we have to draw the line. We need to finish the qualification for a European team on European soil.”
He continued: “It would be very strange if we were waiting on what happens on the PGA Tour in order to decide the European team. That just doesn’t add up.
“We can stand on our own two feet. We’re a strong enough tour with very good tournaments. We have a great finishing campaign every two years for the Ryder Cup and there is where we always need to finish – on our terms and not the Americans’ terms.”