Lee Westwood looks set to take another break from the game after this week’s Dunhill Links Championship.
The English world number two, who suffered a recurrence of his calf injury during an opening 70 at Kingsbarns, added a level-par 72 at St Andrews on Friday.
“It was pretty much the same as yesterday,” he said. “I’m just struggling with it and I’m probably just going to get through this week and make a decision.”
Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan is playing in the celebrity pro-am event and chatted with Westwood.
“I don’t like pulling out of tournaments, but he said when you get something like that you just need to take the time off and make sure it’s 110% when you come back,” Westwood said.
Asked if it could mean another lengthy break after this week – the Ryder Cup was his first competitive action since August 6 – he replied: “Could be, yeah.
“My gut instinct is to get it better. I’m just consciously thinking about it and the longer the day goes on the worse it gets. It’s not great and shutting down for the rest of the year is an option.”
Needing a first or second-place finish to dethrone Tiger Woods as world number one, Westwood is outside the top 30 at halfway.
But if he misses his defence of the Portugal Masters next week, he will overtake Woods on the rankings – calculated over a two-year period – at the end of this month.
