Lee Westwood stays calm despite falling at the final hurdle again

At Augusta, the Englishman went into the final round one ahead of Phil Mickelson but had to settle for runners-up spot after shooting a 71, compared to the American's 67.

It was the same story at Sawgrass as a ragged closing 74, saw his one-shot lead at the start of yesterday turn into a four-shot deficit on eventual winner Tim Clark of South Africa.

That cost Westwood £860,000 in prize money and his first victory in America for 12 years. However, he said: "I'm disappointed but it's not something I'm going to pull my hair out over. If you don't play well you don't deserve to win and I just didn't play well over the weekend. I wasn't striking the ball solidly enough.

"It all needs fine-tuning. I'll keep working on things, just trying to get a bit better for next time."

The shot that disappointed him most was his approach to the long 16th. Two back at the time he came up short in the bunker and then lipped out for birdie from nine feet.

"It was just a rubbish five-iron — I should have been able to hit that," said Westwood, who finished on 12 under par.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods is in the spotlight again for not finishing a tournament.

Last Friday, just about the time when he was rumoured to have been served with divorce papers by his wife, Elin, Woods was asked if he had any issues with his fitness.

"No, zero. Absolutely 100 per cent," said the world No1, who missed the cut at the Quail Hollow Championship.

But his tune changed as he blamed an injury for quitting at the seventh hole of his final round at Sawgrass.

He said: "I've been playing with a bad neck for quite a while. They want me to go get a picture on it next week. I might have a bulging disc."