Injury blow for Westwood

Lee Westwood damaged ligaments in his wrist and was forced to withdraw from the NEC World Championship in Akron.  

Westwood started his second round with a triple-bogey seven, but it was at the 457-yard 13th that he somehow jarred his wrist on the tee.

He completed the round, but ran up an eight on the long 17th and finished with a double-bogey six for a 78.

From level par overnight, he went down to eight over and after going immediately to an on-site physio for a diagnosis pulled out and made plans to return home.

David Brookes, part of his management team, said: "The wrist has been strapped up, but Lee could be out for a while."

Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance will be anxiously waiting to see how long that is.

Westwood was not entered for next week's BMW International in Munich - the final qualifying event for Europe's team - but is in the field for the following week's European Masters in Switzerland.

The 28-year-old from Worksop, whose 78 had left him joint last in the 39-man field, has had a bitterly disappointing year after ending Colin Montgomerie's seven-year reign as European number one last November.

He has yet to win this season, but thankfully has not had to worry about qualifying for Torrance's team because of his success late last year.