Westwood Moves to Calm Accusations of Sour Grapes

Lee Westwood has moved to address the controversy surrounding some of the comments he made about being on the receiving end of crowd abuse during Europe's Ryder Cup defeat in Louisville. After the United States victory by 16 1/2 points to 11 1/2 saw them reclaim the trophy for the first time since 1999, Westwood claimed he had been abused "from start to finish".

The 34-year-old also revealed that his parents had also been woken by a phone call at 4.30am on Sunday. "They were trying to ring me, but called the wrong hotel. I also got a phone call at 12.30am wishing me good luck."

On American captain Paul Azinger's instructions to the crowd, Westwood had originally said: "That's not the way golf's played. It's only a minority, but some people don't know the difference between supporting their team and abusing the opposition. I thought it was a thing of the past. But they were incited to do that. Not by the players at all, I think it's down to the captain. I have to say that."

However, today he moved to clarify his comments. "A lot of what I said in Valhalla during and after the Ryder Cup didn't come out quite as I intended and finished up sounding like sour grapes," said Westwood in a statement issued by his management company.

"So let me say right now that I applaud America's victory, Paul Azinger's captaincy in general and the vast majority of the watching public who witnessed a titanic struggle between two very good sides.

"I regret that I singled out a small minority of the crowd who had a go at me and my family during competition days because far and away the greater majority were impeccably behaved and got right behind their team - as did the excellent European supporters.

"My comments about the hecklers and Paul's geeing up the crowd before the event were in no way intended to be an excuse or the words of an ungracious loser because the American team performed brilliantly and fully deserved to win.

"Paul turned out to be a very good captain and both his ideas and tactics were spot on so it doesn't surprise me that there is a move to keep him in that position for the next match in Wales. I may not have been too thrilled with one or two things that happened in Valhalla, but I am taking absolutely nothing away from America's win.

"When you're beaten by a better side, you just have to admit it. Well done USA. See you in Celtic Manor."