There was a significant and hopefully ominous finish to Lee Westwood’s involvement in the Smurfit European Open last weekend.

A couple of times in recent months, Lee has galloped towards the winning post only to finish like Devon Lock in the closing stages. But this time at the K-Club where the 2006 Ryder Cup will be staged, he ran on in the later stages.
A first top 10 finish in two years was Lee’s reward and I know he was delighted to be back at the sharp end again – confident that the hard work he has been putting in is finally beginning to pay off.
Lee finished properly in County Kildare, playing some quality golf down the stretch. The birdies he gathered at 16 and 18 will have done him no end of good because it is not the easiest of finishes in golf and there were plenty of opportunities for him to find trouble. He avoided it all and now I feel it will not be long before he is contending again and eventually adding to his 24 worldwide wins.
Ryder Cup colleague Darren Clarke quietly surprised me at the K-Club because the big man does not normally explode out of the blocks after taking two weeks off. I actually though that if he played all four rounds and then built on it in Scotland this week then he would be in decent shape for the upcoming Open at Sandwich.
But Darren started very brightly indeed and if he had been able to hole just a half decent share of putts then he would have finished higher than the highly commendable fifth he eventually managed.
Andrew Coltart is also beginning to look like the complete golfer I know he can be and his 7th place at the K-Club was his fifth top 10 of the season. This is turning into quite a good year for the Scot and he is just one win from turning it into a very good one. I believe he can take that step in the next couple of months.
Charl Schwartzel is another of our boys who is making hay in high summer and another handsome cheque in Ireland means he is now within reach of retaining his card for next season. What an achievement that would be for somebody who is still only 18 years of age. The 64 he scored on the second day was surely his best round ever.
A lot of anxious faces will be scouring the scoreboard at Loch Lomond this week because it is the final event of Open qualifying from the mini money list, which started at the Volvo PGA Championship. None will be looking closer than our own David Howell, who currently occupies seventh and final place in the pecking order for Open places.
I wish him well along with all our other players who are still looking to make the final line-up at Royal St.George’s. I have a feeling we are going to have a very successful Open.