Golf fans may be shocked to hear that Lee Westwood has been given odds of 500/1 to win this year’s Open Championship.
One of Britain’s finest ever golfers, the 52-year-old boasts 44 wins in his hugely successful 22-year professional career, which has seen him previously ranked as world no.1.
And given his enormous pedigree, it perhaps comes as an even bigger surprise that Westwood has not featured on the major stage for three years.
His last appearance came at the 2022 Open, with the Englishman’s decision to join the breakaway LIV Golf Series in the same year impacting his chances of making golf‘s biggest events.
Since then, he has either missed out on reaching a major, or not tried to qualify for them.
But this is set to change this week, as Westwood prepares to tee off at Royal Portrush for the 2025 Open Championship on Thursday.
The veteran made it through Final Qualifying for the British event with victory at Dundonald Links last month, battling jet-leg and a lack of sleep to seal a return among the sport’s elite.
And with Westwood previously finishing as high as second at the major back in 2010, he is now relishing a return to the big stage.
That is despite bookmakers giving him less than a fighting chance of landing a first major title this week, with his odds currently at 500/1.
Speaking to talkSPORT ahead of the start of The Open, Westwood laughed as he admitted: “It’s what all 52-year-olds should be. That’s the price we should be!
He then shared his delight at featuring in this year’s main draw: “It’s lovely, it’s such a massive tournament.
“It’s the biggest in the golfing calendar for me. There’s nothing like the Open Championship. I grew up watching it on TV and it was the first major I ever played in.
“It has such a history to it. Great winners, great golf courses, and this is one of my favourites.
“So I had good incentive to try and qualify this year.”
Westwood comeback on golf’s main stage also means the return of another familiar figure in his camp – his wife Helen Storey.
Fans have grown used to seeing the Brit star’s other half as his caddie in recent years, and he confirmed this is a role she will be fulfilling again at Portrush.
Having been by his side in his successful Open qualifying campaign, Westwood will be hoping she can have a similar effect this week, but perhaps without the hiccups away from the course.
He revealed: “She caddied for me at the qualifying and, strangely, I flew in from Dallas and got to Glasgow Airport, and she was supposed to pick me up from the airport.
“But she said there was a bit of miscommunication. I asked her where she was, and she was already sat upstairs in Dundonald Golf Club having lunch or dinner.
“So I jumped in a taxi from Glasgow Airport to Dundonald! So that started well, didn’t it?”
And while Westwood and Storey have all eyes on The Open this week, their focus will switch back to the LIV Tour after the major’s conclusion on Sunday, with a packed schedule ahead.
The golf star is in action at the tour’s UK event at JCB Country Club in Uttoxeter next week, and he admitted he was relishing a return on home soil.
Westwood said: “I’m doing a Duels [a LIV golf, nine hole event] competition on Tuesday.
“There’s a caddie competition on the Wednesday that Helen said she might participate in, I’m having to twist her arm!
“But obviously to be playing in England, only an hour from where I was brought up in Worksop, is special. It’s always nice to go out and play in England, but especially in the Midlands.”
And while Westwood is enjoying life on the LIV Tour, he did however call on golf to find a solution which allow more players on the tour to qualify at major championships.
The Saudi-financed tour currently doesn’t offer Official World Golf Ranking points, making it more difficult for its leading names to compete for the sport’s biggest prizes.
Discussing the relationship between the LIV golfers and PGA Tour stars at The Open, Westwood said: “I think we all get on well.
“Everybody realises that it’s a very high standard of golf on LIV, and the majors are missing out by a lot of the LIV players not being there.
“You’ve got Taylor Gooch who won [LIV Golf’s Andalucia event] last week- arguably, he should be in the Open this week.
“And you’ve got other guys that haven’t played the Masters and the US Open for various reasons.
“So at some point, either the World Golf Rankings have got to see sense or the majors have got to find their own kind of style of qualification to get those guys in, because nobody wants to watch a Major with some of the best players in the world missing out.”