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Westwood ends scheduling row

02/11/2007

Lee Westwood has said he wants to put an end to the controversy surrounding his comments about the 'poor scheduling' of the European Tour.

The English golfer was forced to miss the final event of the season at the Volvo Masters as the dates clashed with a rival Asian Tour tournament, the Singapore Masters.

Westwood was invited to the Singapore event last year before the European Tour released their schedule and was critical when he discovered the dates of the two competitions clashed, meaning he could not be present for both.

"I think that everybody wants it over and done with so this mistake doesn't happen again next year," he said.

"Both sponsors have suffered - Volvo and Barclays [sponsors in Singapore].

"Barclays also lost out on a couple of players that would have ordinarily been playing here in Sergio [Garcia] and Padraig [Harrington]."

Westwood stood by his criticism of the European Tour but called for a line to be drawn under the entire episode.

"The mismanagement on behalf of the tour is disappointing," he added.

"I'd like to have played in both tournaments and hopefully it will be corrected in years to come so I can play in the last couple of events of the European season."

The Englishman's complaints have been echoed by a number of players, including European Tour Order of Merit leader Ernie Els.

The South African stands to lose out at the top of the standings because he was also committed to playing in Singapore.

Els has since missed the cut at the Asian event and must now watch a number of players who are hoping to top him in the money list, including the current top two in Spain Harrington and Justin Rose, battle it out for the winner's cheque in Valderrama.