LIV Golfer Lee Westwood Set For Over-50s Debut At US Senior Open

LIV golfer Lee Westwood is set to make his debut at a senior Major championship this week when the US Senior Open takes place at Newport Country Club.

Westwood - a former World No.1 - will be joined by a whole host of high-class veterans in Rhode Island, including defending champion Bernhard Langer and past winners Padraig Harrington and Jim Furyk.

Fellow LIV player Richard Bland is also in the field, fresh off the back of winning the Senior PGA Championship in what was his own debut in the older category.

Westwood enters the week hot on the heels of his best LIV result since making the switch in 2022 - a T3 finish in LIV Golf Nashville's individual competition and a fourth-place result for his Majesticks GC squad, which he co-captains alongside Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson.

In a post sent out on X, Westwood - who twice finished third in the US Open (2008 - 3, 2011 - T3) but failed to land any of the four Majors - admitted he was looking forward to playing at Newport CC after "a great week" in the LIV Golf League.

He said: "Excited to make my senior debut this week at the US Senior Open before heading to [Valderrama] for the next event on the [LIV Golf League] circuit."

The 44-time pro winner, who turned 51 in April of this year and is one of the few golfers to have triumphed on five different continents, has yet to contest a senior Major despite being able to do so since 2023.

Opting not to compete in either the Senior PGA Championship or US Senior Open last season while being unable to take part in the Senior Open Championship following his change in tours, Westwood has decided to make his bow during 2024 instead.

But, in a recent interview with YouTube golf personality Peter Finch in which he also detailed the fine handed out by the DP World Tour for playing in LIV Golf events while still a member of the Wentworth-based circuit, Westwood explained why he will only being playing one Major on the senior calendar this year.

He said: "I can play in certain senior Majors. I can actually play in the Senior PGA [Championship] the week after next, but there's so much travelling for me coming up with LIV events in Houston and Nashville [I won't].

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"And then it's the US Senior Open, which I'm actually playing in, and then there are tournaments in Valderrama and JCB coming quickly... the only one I can't play in is the Senior British Open Championship because it's half owned by the European Tour.

"The R&A won't put their foot down and say 'no, this is an Open Championship. Lee and Richard Bland should be able to play.' They pander to the European Tour and say that if we pay our fines - I think my outstanding fines are at £850,000 or something like that.

"Well, I'm not paying them because I disagree with the way they've been handed out. So that's why I can't play in the Seniors Open Championship, but I think the fans lose out there, personally."