Former world number one Lee Westwood has split from coach Sean Foley as he looks to arrest his alarming slide down the rankings.
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Westwood began working with Foley, who also coaches Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, shortly before the Open Championship last summer and finished third at Muirfield after taking a two-shot lead into the final round.
However, the 40-year-old Englishman recorded just one subsequent top-10 finish on the European Tour during the rest of a winless season and has started 2014 with a share of 47th at the Farmers Insurance Open and a missed cut in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Westwood spent a total of 22 weeks as world number one in two spells after succeeding Woods in October 2010, but is now ranked 33rd.
Speaking about ending his time with Foley, he told GolfWeek: "I just wanted to work on swing positions and stuff like that a bit more. I didn't feel like Sean coached like that, so it didn't really fit what I wanted to do.
"I felt like I had the game that got me to world number one. And I was working on stuff that I didn't work on back then, so it made sense to go back to what I was working on before."
Asked about finding a new coach, Westwood added: "I have things in the pipeline. Nobody has got any need to apply."
Worksop golfer Lee Westwood is 2 shots off the lead at the Houston Open going into the final round. The former world number 1 carded a 5 under par 67 in his third round to move to 9 under and second on the leaderboard behind Stewart Cink and Bill Haas.
Lee Westwood has decided to split with long-time coach Pete Cowen in a bid to put the spark back into his game. There is also to be another change of caddie for the former world number one in the run-up to next month's Ryder Cup after he lost Billy Foster to a knee injury in May.
Westwood, who comes from Worksop, missed the halfway cut in the USPGA Championship on Friday and so has now gone 59 majors without winning one. He will be almost 40 when the next one is played in April.
Lee Westwood feels he has already pulled off one "genius" move at Royal Lytham, but admits he is still trying to figure out where the birdies to boost his Open chances will come from. The Worksop-based golfer is seeking his first major title at the 58th attempt this week, having recorded
seven top three finishes in his last 16 appearances. The 39-year-old admits Lytham is one of his favourite courses on the Open rota, but knows the thick rough and potentially poor weather will make conditions difficult when the battle for the Claret Jug gets under way on Thursday.
"I played the golf course last night, which was a genius move because it wasnice weather and there was hardly anybody out there. It was one of the best Open Championship practises I ever had, " the world number three said.
"Obviously it's in England and it's nice to play on home turf, that makes it more special. And I think it's a fair golf course that's a lot harder than it looks at first impression. ."
Lee Westwood has confirmed his plans to move to the United States at the end of the year to maximise the remainder of his playing career. The 39-year-old, who still lives close to his birthplace of Worksop, has won 40 professional titles but has yet to claim a major in 57 attempts.
There are a number of reasons but the main one is I haven't got that much time left at the top and I want to give myself the best chance of staying there aslong as I can.
Lee Westwood from Worksop has spoken about the moment a tree put paid to his latest bid to win a major golf title. Three off the lead and still with 14 holes to play at the US Open, his drive down the 491-yard fifth was never seen again. He finished joint 10th, four behind winner Webb Simpson.
You could have understood it if my shot was way off line, but it was on the perfect line. You've got to cut that corner and try to hold it up against that slope, because the fairway is so severe. It was hard to get any momentum going after that because it took the wind out of my sails. I wasn't really making any putts and wasn't getting any breaks. I eagled the 17th after a great approach but it was probably too little too late by then. It was just one of those frustrating days really, but we live to fight another day.
– Lee Westwood.
Next month's Open at Royal Lytham will become Westwood's 58th attempt to land a major title and he has now had 14 top 10s, seven of them top threes.
Lee Westwood after a birdie putt on the fifth during the third round of the U.S. Open Credit: AP Photo/Ben Margot
Worksop's Lee Westwood is just three off the lead as the race for the US Open title hots up in San Francisco. Graeme McDowell is tied for the lead on one under with Jim Furyk.
Worksop's Lee Westwood is poised for another assault on his first major after carding a 67 - the best score of the day - in the third round of the US Open in California. He's three shots off the lead going into the final round.
