Westwood defends at British Masters
BY Bruce Young | European PGA Tour | 2008 British Masters | Preview | 23 Sep 2008
European golf looks to put the Ryder Cup defeat at Valhalla behind it this week when the Quinn Insurance British Masters is played this week at the Belfry at Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands.
With the late withdrawal of an exhausted Oliver Wilson, only two of those who played last week in Kentucky will line up, namely Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell.
McDowell was one of the success stories of Valhalla, especially given that he was on debut, while Westwood could only muster one point from his four matches.
Westwood has, however, had an outstanding season generally in stroke-play events and enters this week very likely to successfully defend his five shot victory last year.
McDowell won the Scottish Open in July and has played well enough since to be a factor this week. He will be further buoyed by his singles victory last week over Stewart Cink and even though the result of that match ultimately played no part in the outcome of the event, it was impressive nonetheless. McDowell missed the cut in this event last year but in 2006 he finished 8th.
Michael Campbell is fighting his way back to the form that we all know he is capable of. Three top ten finishes in his last four starts, including a third in Germany, and a very good tournament at this venue last year suggests that this could be Campbell’s week to win his first stroke-play event in more than three years. In addition to his 4th place last year Campbell was 5th here in 2006 suggesting a significant comfort zone with this layout.
It would not surprise to see David Howell do well this week. He is on the comeback trail in recent months after a couple of seasons in the golfing wilderness and at the peak of his game he is definitely one of Europe’s best. His recent 3rd place finish at the Johnnie Walker Championship suggests he is closing in on his best form.
Australasians in the field at this stage, other than Michael Campbell, include Richard Green, Scott Strange, Peter O’Malley, Marcus Fraser, Peter Fowler, Gareth Paddison and Matthew Millar.
