Lee Westwood took up golf when he was 13 years old after his grandparents bought him a half set of clubs. When Lee was 15 he told his mother that his ambition was to top the world golf rankings. After turning professional in 1993 he earned his European tour card at his first attempt at Q-school. Lees first tour win came in a play off with Paul Broadhurst and Russell Claydon for the 1996 Volvo Scandinavian Masters, at Forsgardens G & C Malmo Sweden.

By 2001 Lee was loving life, he was at No.4 in the world rankings and became a father to his son Samual James. But the euphoria was short lived, by 2002 he was fighting through a severe slump and was down at No 265 in the world. At that time his father stated that "Lee was at the lowest ebb of his game and contemplating packing it in". By early 2003 Lee had turned to top golf coach David Leadbetter to restructure his swing. Leadbetter later stated that Lee was really struggling, very low on confidence, and his short game was shocking". That puts a lot of pressure on the rest of your game.

You dont get to No.4 in the world without having natural ability, Lee Westwood returned to the winners enclosure later in 2003 by claiming victory at the Dunhill Championship in Germany. The win was followed by a further quiet period until 2007, but not with the associated trauma, self-doubt that affected Lee back in 2002. Lee worked his way back to happiness, both mentaly and physically.

On the fitness front, in 2006 Lee started working with the fitness coach Steve McGregor to get himself fit, he is now very very strong and regularly bench presses more than 100kg. I believe that was the start of a major push towards his path to take the No1 position as I do not think he would have been fit enough to play as consistently as he has done.

On his path to the worlds No1, Lee Westwood is one of the few players that has won tournaments on every major continent, including victories on the European Tour (19 wins) and the PGA Tour, has played for Europe in the last seven consecutive Ryder Cups, and in 2000 after winning seven tournaments worldwide he was ranked first on the European Order of Merit.

As of 31 October 2010, 37-year-old Lee Westwood became the No.1 ranked player in the world after almost five and a half years of Tiger Woods holding the honour. Lee becomes the 13th player to become No1 since records began in 1986, and only the second European player (Nick Faldo being the other).