Lee Westwood may not be Britain's first choice when it comes to wrapping Christmas parcels for antipodean relatives, but his touch round the edges of slick putting surfaces at the Gary Player Country Club yesterday suggests he may be in the shakeup for the Sun City Million Dollar Challenge's (£600,000) first prize on Sunday.
Westwood, who was yesterday named European Golfer of the Year, upset officials at the Australian Open this week when he returned the trophy he won there 12 months ago in two pieces. They were also annoyed by his decision not to defend the title, opting to come here where not only is the money better but the field includes seven of the world's leading 10 players.
He had a level-par 72 yesterday and is five shots off the first-round lead held by last year's champion Nick Price. The Zimbabwean had six birdies on his card yesterday and a single blemish at the 15th to lead by two shots from Mark O'Meara, Bernhard Langer and Justin Leonard, who all shot 69s. Westwood is in joint seventh place in the 12-man field and one shot behind another Briton, the 1996 champion Colin Montgomerie.
Westwood had got off to a grand start with birdies at two of the first three holes. He chipped and putted for birdie at the parfive second and made it two on the trot when a beautifully executed five-wood from the fringes of the third green snaked its way six yards down the green and into the cup.
After that there was only disappointment. Bogeys followed at the fifth and sixth and a further birdie at the par-five ninth was cancelled by a dropped shot at the last. "I played solidly all day and should have been five shots better." he said.
Westwood will partner another first-timer in today's second round. Tiger Woods made only nine pars in his level-par round yesterday and struggled to adjust not only to the greens but the high veld's rarefied air.
At about 5,000 feet golf balls fly further. It is a fact that forces rare visitors to altitude to make subtle changes to their distance charts. "I was hitting the ball about half a club too long at the start of the round," Woods said. "I thought that with the damp conditions and as cool as it was the ball would not fly as far as it did. After about three holes I started taking five per cent, which worked out for the rest of the day."
Westwood's formula was simpler, substituting yards for metres in the official course chart's references. Judging by his play yesterday and Woods's tendency to overshoot, which continued all the way to the 16th where his six-iron flew clean over the back of the green, Westwood's theorem would seem the more likely to be proved as the week progresses.
