LIV Golf's Lee Westwood explains injury scare: "I forgot I was nearly 53 and not 23"

LIV Golf's Lee Westwood has revealed he couldn't hold a putter only seven weeks ago after sustaining a wrist injury chasing 180mph ball speed.

Ben Smith

Updated: 12 Mar 2026

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**LIV Golf Singapore leaderboard**
Position	Player	Score
1	Jon Rahm	-4
1	Lee Westwood	-4
1	Richard T. Lee	-4
1	Bryson DeChambeau	-4
5	Thomas Detry	-3
5	Matthew Wolff	-3
5	Marc Leishman	-3
5	Tyrrell Hatton	-3
5	Charles Howell III	-3
5	Cameron Tringale	-3
5	Louis Oosthuizen	-3

Lee Westwood opened up on his injury scare after tying for the first round lead at LIV Golf Singapore.

Westwood, 52, was forced to miss the first two events of the breakaway tour's season after injuring his wrist.

The Englishman returned to action last week in Hong Kong and fared well on his first competitive start in more than six months.

Former world number one Westwood registered a T18 finish and is now among the early pacesetters at Sentosa Golf Club.

Westwood fired a four-under 67 at Sentosa Golf Club on Thursday morning to share the lead with in-form Jon Rahm, who won last week, Bryson DeChambeau and Canada's Richard T. Lee.

Westwood said he was "surprised" to be at the top of the leaderboard given his recent injury scare.

It was "nothing too serious", Westwood said. Although only seven weeks ago he couldn't grip his putter.

"The specialist was worried that I'd torn the sheath in the wrist and I would need surgery to reconstruct it," he said.

"To be sitting here, having had a good week last week and then be leading this week is a very pleasant surprise."

Westwood added that he sustained the injury whilst training in his simulator at home.

He was trying to reach 180mph ball speed and overdid it.

"I was in my simulator at home, and I forgot I was nearly 53, thinking I was 23," he said.

"Tried to get up to 180 mile an hour ball speed and was off the floor hitting it, and just on my follow-through I felt something kind of click or pop.

"It was me, tearing my old tendons. I'll hit it smoother from now on."

He added: "I know it's still not right. As the round goes on, it gets achy.

"It's like doing a workout in the gym; you get to the end of the workout; your muscles are aching.

"So, after hitting nearly a round's worth of shots, it starts to ache a little bit.

"But the best way to do that is to hit less shots and shoot lower scores.

"I'm having to sort of monitor how much practice I do and how many balls I hit in the warmup, try and save it all for the golf course really, which is not a bad thing this week with the heat."