Westwood regrets comments

9:06am Wednesday 24th September 2008

LEE Westwood now regrets some of the comments he made about being on the receiving end of crowd abuse during the Ryder Cup defeat in Louisville.

After the United States won by 16½ points to 11½, to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 1999, Westwood revealed he had been abused ‘‘from start to finish’’.

He also said he was disappointed by Azinger’s attempts to make the crowd his team’s ’13th man’ by holding a ‘‘pep’’ rally in downtown Louisville and telling him they could cheer when European players missed putts.

However, yesterday he clarified his comments.

‘‘A lot of what I said in Valhalla during and after the Ryder Cup didn’t come out quite as I intended and finished up sounding like sour grapes,’’ he said.

‘‘So let me say right now that I applaud America’s victory, Paul Azinger’s captaincy in general and the vast majority of the watching public who witnessed a titanic struggle between two very good sides.

‘‘I regret that I singled out a small minority of the crowd who had a go at me and my family during competition days because far and away the greater majority were impeccably behaved and got right behind their team – as did the excellent European supporters.

‘‘My comments about the hecklers and Paul’s geeing up the crowd before the event were in no way intended to be an excuse or the words of an ungracious loser because the American team performed brilliantly and fully deserved to win.

‘‘I may not have been too thrilled with one or two things that happened in Valhalla, but I am taking absolutely nothing away from America’s win.”