Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell aiming for British Masters triumph

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Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell aiming for British Masters triumph


 
LEE WESTWOOD and Graeme McDowell will feed off their different Ryder Cup agonies as they look to reel in Sweden’s Alex Noren in today’s final round of the British Masters.
 
Noren, who is chasing a third European Tour title of the season, carded a third round of 65 at The Grove to finish 16 under par, three shots clear of halfway leader Richard Bland.
 
 Peter Hanson, Tommy Fleetwood, Bernd Wiesberger and Richard Sterne are all on 12 under par, with Westwood and Germany’s Marcel Siem a shot further back and McDowell another stroke adrift.
 
 Former world No.1 Westwood feels he let down good friend and Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke after failing to win any of his three matches as Europe suffered their heaviest defeat for 35 years at Hazeltine earlier this month.
 
 The Worksop man, 43, then missed the cut in last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship but carded a flawless round of 67 yesterday to stay in contention for a 24th European Tour victory.
 
 “You have to be able to forget stuff and move on,” Westwood said.
 
 “You can only try your hardest and if that’s not good enough, you move on to the next tournament.
 
 “I played well today and gave myself lots of chances but you have to stay patient. You look at this course and think, ‘I can shoot really low here’. But if you don’t treat it right and lose patience you can make bogeys quite easily.”
 
 McDowell failed to qualify for the Ryder Cup and was overlooked for a wildcard but insisted on following the action on TV to further boost his motivation to make the team in 2018.
 
 “I made myself watch it because I love it, but also as I wanted it to hurt,” said McDowell after a 67 marred by a three-putt bogey on the 18th.
 
 “I needed to watch those guys and realise that I want to be one of them again. I still believe I am a top-10 player in the world and I have to start working like that.”