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I am indebted to the new issue of McKellar <\/em>magazine for the information that, appearing on Desert Island Discs<\/em> in 1994, the author Douglas Adams, creator of The Hitchhiker\u2019s Guide to the Galaxy<\/em>, said of the one luxury item that would accompany him to the fictional island: \u201dI would probably take an omnibus of all the P.G.<\/a> Wodehouse golfing stories. I\u2019ve never played golf in my life and don\u2019t know anything about it. But I actually think P.G. Wodehouse is one of the greatest writers ever to use the English language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
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25 wins. 24 years apart. pic.twitter.com\/DMr26oc3fd<\/a><\/p>β The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) January 19, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote> <\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nAnd so to events at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday, where (in modern language) the champion had distinctly more pars than bogeys. With reference to the title of this piece, I accept it may sound rather grandiose to speak of Lee Westwood having an \u2018era\u2019. He has never won a major championship, having played in 82 of them, the most anyone has without a victory. He has, however, placed in the top-ten on 19 occasions, three times being a runner-up and six times third. He has topped the European Tour Order of Merit twice, in 2000 and 2009, by which point it had been renamed the Race to Dubai, and in 2010 he became the No. 1 ranked player in the world. At the age of 46, as he showed this past weekend, he is still a golfer of tremendous talent. His latest win was his 44th<\/sup> overall, his 25th<\/sup> on his home circuit. Impressive numbers, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u201cSport is all about setting\ntargets for everybody else to follow,\u201d the victor observed, \u201cand it shows the\nlevel I\u2019ve played at for such a long time. Longevity in sport is difficult to\nachieve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Westwood\u2019s first victory\ncame at the 1996 Volvo Scandinavian Masters. He can now boast a winning career\nspanning a quarter of a century. He is only the second man, after Mark McNulty,\nto win on the European Tour in four different decades. Should he claim that\nexcruciatingly elusive first major at the Masters in April (his tie for fourth in\nthe Open Championship at Royal Portrush last July earned him his place at\nAugusta), he would be the oldest first-time major winner in history, less than\na fortnight before turning 47. That would be a couple of firsts well worth\ncelebrating. Happy numbers, indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nYou\ncan follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog <\/em><\/strong>f-factors.com<\/a> plus you can read more by him on golf at\nrobertgreengolf.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"