MAJESTICKS RISE WITH BEST-EVER FINISH FOR HORSFIELD AND WESTWOOD

It was very evident that both players were trending in the right direction after playing well in Houston, where Westwood scored his first points of the season with a top-20 and Horsfield had closed with a six-under par round on Sunday.

With scores of 67, 68 and 65 at The Grove, Horsfield finished solo second at 13-under. Westwood was tied third, one shot behind his teammate with rounds of 69 and 66s over the weekend.

As a team, Majesticks reached 32-under, helped greatly by Westwood closing with an eagle on the 18th and a birdie on first, but Co-Captain Ian Poulter suffered a late blip with a bogey and a double in his last three holes. That proved decisive as Torque edged ahead to third place at 34-under with three of their players making birdies on their final holes.

Horsfield made just one bogey each day as he played fantastic golf from tee to green (42 greens in regulation) to record his third top-10 in LIV Golf. It bettered his previous best finish of fifth place in the first-ever event of the League in London in 2022, while his last top-10 was last year in Orlando. His season was cut short soon after that because of a hip surgery.

“It was really nice to play really well. From tee to green, I felt like it was probably the most consistent I have played all year. I had a few rounds where I’d played solid, but I hadn’t sort of scored well, and it was nice to do that this week,” said Horsfield, who jumped up to 22nd place in the season-long Individual Standings and inside the Lock Zone.

“I think I fed off the final round in Houston, where I shot a six-under. Obviously, that gave me some nice momentum coming into Nashville and I managed to get the putter going.

“I made a change to the way I grip the putter. I switched to left-hand lower, cross-hand style and it has given me some good confidence and some good momentum, which helped other parts of my game as well.”

With wife Helen on bag this week, Westwood was technically bogey-free for the tournament, although he did make a double bogey midway through his final round. The tied third finish was his best performance in LIV Golf as well, bettering the fourth place in Boston in September 2022.

The frustrating double bogey came from the middle of the fairway on the 8th hole, when he pulled his second shot into the greenside bunker and needed two shots from the bunker and two putts. Despite that, Westwood was the best player in the field in scrambling, which wasn’t that often as he found 41 greens in regulation.

Horsfield was paired with Westwood for the final round and both greatly enjoyed the round and managed to push each other.

“It was really nice to play with Westy on Sunday, and we had a great time there. He had a great eagle-birdie finish. When he made that 15-footer downhill putt for birdie on the last, we both sort of went crazy high-fiving each other,” said Horsfield.

“That was so cool. It’s not very often you get to play with your teammate and in a team environment. To do it with him, and have us both play well, it was a lot of fun. Can’t wait for Valderrama.”

Poulter and Stenson finished tied 25th and just outside the points. Interestingly, it was the third time in nine events this season that the two close friends have matched each other’s score over 54 holes.

STAT REVIEW

Field ranking in parentheses

Fairways Hit

Horsfield – 32 (T11)

Westwood – 27 (T37)

Poulter – 34 (T3)

Stenson – 31 (T15)

Driving Distance Avg.

Horsfield – 313.8 (26)

Westwood – 310.5 (34)

Poulter – 308.6 (36)

Stenson – 318.4 (23)

Greens in Regulation

Horsfield – 42 (T4)

Westwood – 41 (T9)

Poulter – 37 (T19)

Stenson – 41 (T9)

Total Putts

Horsfield – 83 (T16)

Westwood – 86 (T38)

Poulter – 84 (T21)

Stenson – 92 (T50)

Total Birdies

Horsfield – 16 (T10)

Westwood – 10 (T41)

Poulter – 13 (T18)

Stenson – 11 (T33)