How Lee Westwood’s girlfriend caddie Helen Storey, who doesn’t know much about golf and is scared of divots with worms in, helped his Open charge
THE first time Lee Westwood asked girlfriend Helen Storey to caddie for him, she was afraid to pick up a large divot – in case there was a worm in it!
If Westwood finally gets his hands on a Major championship trophy this week, after a whole catalogue of near misses, he will probably handle the Claret Jug even more cautiously.
Westwood, 46, holds the record nobody wants in the Majors – most top three finishes without a victory, a mind-boggling nine of them, all between 2008 and 2016.
He is also closing in the record for most Majors played without a victory. That little ‘gem’ currently belongs to Jay Haas, who played 86 times in the top events before accepting he was not destined to win one.
But Westwood is well placed to end that barren run and it’s thanks to having Helen on the bag.
Worksop-born Westwood says fitness fanatic Helen, 42, who he kisses at the end of each round, doesn’t know much about golf but knows exactly what goes on in the six inches between his ears.
Helen became Westwood’s girlfriend when his divorce to Laurae Coltart ended in a last-minute settlement that avoided a courtroom battle over his £50million fortune.
The former world No 1 said: “Obviously I get on well with Helen. She doesn’t know too much about golf but she knows a lot about the way my mind works.
“So she keeps me in a good frame of mind and focusing on the right things at the right time. There’s more to the caddying than carrying and getting the wind direction.”
This is Westwood’s 82nd big time appearance, and instead of knocking Haas out of the record books, he would dearly love to replace Jerry Barber as the oldest first-time Major champion. Barber was 45 when he won the 1961 USPGA, after a play-off.
But if you believed Westy’s reaction to starting a Major with two sub-70 rounds for the first time since the 2010 Masters – he added a four under par 67 to his opening 68 to climb to seven under par – winning here would not be such a big deal.
The Ryder Cup hero, who is one behind leader JB Holmes and Shane Lowry, said: “I’m at the stage where I don’t really care any more if I win one. I haven’t come here with any great expectations.
‘SHE KNOWS HOW MY MIND WORKS’
“I’m playing well, so I just go out there and swing a club the best I can. I’m 46 years old and still competing with these young lads, and I even won last year. So there’s no pressure on me. I just go out there and have fun.”
Oh yeah? Pull the other one Lee.
If Westwood is still in the mix on Sunday afternoon you can bet your life he will care about the outcome, probably more than anyone else in the field.
But for now, having Storey on the bag – just as she was when he won one of the European Tour’s biggest events, the Nedbank Challenge, eight months ago – is clearly a calming influence.
He said: “You’d be surprised at the sort of things we talk about out there. Dinner. Where we’re going on holiday. Whether there’s a nail file in the bag – for me, not her!
“My favourite one was from Denmark, the first week she caddied for me, and I took out a divot because it was big and soft and she’s walking back with the divot at arm’s length.
“So and I said: ‘What’s wrong?’ And she said, ‘I hope there’s not a worm in this’. Thankfully, it was worm-free, but that sort of thing makes me smile. It’s a big advantage to be so relaxed.
“Helen’s caddied for me quite a few times since me and Billy Foster finished last year, but this is the first time she’s done it in a Major.
“She’s delighted because they’ve got their own bunker rakers. She doesn’t have to rake the bunkers and get sand in her shoes.
“My son Sam has done it as well, and he was on the bag for me in Ireland and Scotland last week and the week before. It was just Helen’s turn here.
“The first time she caddied she said she’d love to do it, and I said I’d love her to do it. So that was a pretty easy decision.
“It was one time that Billy couldn’t make it and she did it. And it’s no mean feat carrying that golf bag around, especially in this weather, because it is fully loaded up. I don’t give her an easy break or anything like that. It’s got everything in it.
“She’s been loving the fact that it’s been raining here because it means the waterproofs come out of the bag, as well the umbrella.
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“And I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t keep caddying, as long as it fits in around kids. Sam still wants to do it every now and then, and there will be weeks they both can’t do it and I’ll use somebody else. We’ll see how it goes.”
Westwood refused to say whether Helen will get the usual caddie rate of ten per cent if he breaks his Major duck – her share would be a cool £155,000 of the £1.55 million winner’s cheque.
“We’ll keep that between us,” he grinned.
