After leaving the DP World Tour to join the breakaway league, Lee Westwood responded to his detractors by sharing a few details about his decision to join LIV Golf.
Lee Westwood has attacked critics who called him “disloyal” for abandoning the PGA Tour and DP World Tour to join LIV Golf, claiming that they have been “brainwashed.”
When the Saudi Arabia-funded league first began in 2022, Westwood, 51, was one of its founding members. The decision was widely criticized. Westwood made millions of dollars by jumping to the DP World Tour, which was formerly known as the European Tour, but it also ended his Ryder Cup career and left a bitter taste in his mouth.
As the third season of LIV draws to a close after two years, Westwood says he was offended by the criticism. He claims that many of LIV’s detractors were “brainwashed” as the dust has settled and the golf industry’s civil war is drawing to a standstill, with the competing tours engaged in drawn-out merger talks.
He said on LIV’s Fairway To Heaven podcast, “After 30 years as a professional athlete, I’ve learned not to give a s*** what anybody thinks.” When you hear what ignorant people say, it can be difficult to act upon it.
“I’ve been on the European Tour for almost 30 years, and even though I won twice in the US, I didn’t join that tour. Instead, I continued on the European Tour.”
“I felt like I belonged in Europe, and I enjoyed playing there. It’s obvious that I have a completely different perspective on loyalty than those who have made foolish remarks because I stayed in Europe and performed at European tour events in order to support them and, you know, add to those fields.
“I believe that many of those individuals are now beginning to realize that they were brainwashed by certain individuals who had nothing but financial gain in mind. In an attempt to strengthen their position and persuade the public that they were superior to us players who were headed to League of Legends, they were fabricating tales and attempting to create misconceptions about us players.”
Westwood, the co-captain of the Majesticks, has struggled this season on the golf course, finishing just once in the top 10. Although he acknowledges he is nearing the end of his career and has started making plans for the future, he maintains he can still win tournaments if the right circumstances arise on any given week.
He stated, “I’d like to continue playing and being competitive for as long as I can.” “I have to put in a lot of work, which is why you always see me in the gym during tournaments. Outside of the golf course, I am grateful for that hard work.
However, I also believe in realism, and I know that at 51, one cannot play or remain competitive in the long run. I will eventually become less proficient or lose the motivation to practice, at which point I will take on more team management responsibilities and turn into a mentor. I see that happening in the future, but you never know what’s going to happen.”
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