| Westwood proves fitness for Ryder Cup • World No3 comes through first round since August unscathed• 'I was a bit rusty, but I had six birdies and an eagle'Lee Westwood today delivered a Ryder Cup boost when he came through his first 18-hole fitness test for the first time since his ruptured calf muscle flared up again on 6 August.The Ryder Cup is just two weeks away and there were fears that Westwood would have to pull out of the team due to injury. But, after the round at the Lindrick course near Sheffield, the world No3 feels confident that he will be present at Celtic Manor to take on the US, and win his seventh Ryder Cup cap in the process."I was a bit rusty out there, but I had six birdies and an eagle – in a 30mph wind," he said today.Westwood's fitness trainer, Steve McGregor, who has been supervising his rehabilitation, accompanied the 37-year-old and, despite the undulating layout, he managed to walk the first 14 holes before using a buggy for the final four.The daily workouts for the player will continue before Europe's highest-ranked and most experienced team member plays in a charity event at Archerfield in Scotland next Monday and Tuesday.He plans to walk both rounds there and then will put himself through 36 holes in one day – the same format as the opening two days of the Ryder Cup – next Friday."That's for my own piece of mind really," Westwood said. "If the Ryder Cup was a week earlier I would have made it, but coming when it does I could just take my time and ease my way into it. The treatment is going to continue through the Ryder Cup and beyond, though."The European Tour have said that Steve can be with me in the week of the match. I want no flare-ups and I want to play a full schedule for the rest of the season."Westwood has been troubled by his calf all year, but it was on the eve of the French Open at the end of June that things got so bad he was taken to hospital in Paris. He played that week and, despite the diagnosis of a ruptured plantaris muscle, managed second place in The Open at St Andrews two weeks later.Come the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, three weeks after that, however, he quit on the second day – and has not played since."When I broke down there Steve said it would take six to eight weeks if I stopped completely and did the rehabilitation properly. The Ryder Cup was eight weeks away and he was 99% sure right from the start that I would be all right for it."Lee WestwoodRyder CupGolfguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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