PGA

Westwood, Poulter tee off on fans, 'trolls'

08/12 1:40 PM

Lee Westwood apologized Monday to his sponsors and "true followers" for a three-hour Twitter rant in the early morning in which he vented his frustrations after a 76 left him 13 shots behind winner Jason Dufner at the PGA Championship.

Lee Westwood apologized Monday to his sponsors and "true followers" for a three-hour, early morning Twitter rant in which he vented his frustrations after a 76 left him 13 shots behind winner Jason Dufner at the PGA Championship.

Westwood, who entered the final round within six shots of the lead in a bid for a first major championship title -- in 63 tries -- wrote at 4:11 a.m. ET he had grown tired of "sitting there taking it. Bring it on," before later saying he hadn't "chewed up a troll for a good while."

Less than seven-and-a-half hours later, he issued the apology, also via Twitter.

Sincere apologies to my sponsors and true followers for my earlier comments . It was out of order and out of character ,Westy .
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) August 12, 2013

Westwood lists 11 sponsors on his official website, including Footjoy, Ping, Titleist and UPS.

Westwood, in turns reflective, profane and accusatory in the 50-tweet early morning session, kicked it off by urging his followers -- who Monday numbered more than 578,000 -- to follow the account of Ian Baker-Finch, his South Florida neighbor and CBS Sports analyst whom Westwood reportedly has consulted with recently in an effort to improve his putting.

Westwood then took aim at his apparent Twitter critics, toward "minions" who "need to live from the inside out rather than the outside in."

Ian Poulter chimed in several hours after Westwood's spiel with a message of his own, saying they should have joined forces.

"You been having some twitter trouble," Poulter wrote. "Let me know next time we both let them have it. Funnier."

Poulter went on to criticize an apparent recent trend on tour of fans yelling bizarre phrases after players' tee shots.

RT @FredNOLA Will you cop my lawyers fees if I punch the next person I see yell mashed potatoes or in da hole? > No how about a Signed glove
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 12, 2013

I'm calling for @PGATOUR to step in & stop this shouting out right after shots. Message in to @PGATOUR with your thoughts. Tazer them?
— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) August 12, 2013

Westwood capped his rant by clarifying his comments were authentic, but that he had grown bored and was signing off.

Not been hacked. Just honest. Bored now. Westy out.
— Lee Westwood (@WestwoodLee) August 12, 2013

Among the other tweets for Westwood, who spent five weeks in 2010 and '11 as the world No. 1 but who entered the PGA ranked 12th, at least two of which have since been deleted from the account:

• Come on you girly boy trolls! I've only won just over 2 mill on course this year! Need you to keep me entertained a bit longer than this!

• @tmckeever89: @WestwoodLee Lee what you make of monty slagging your game in commentary? Thought it was bit harsh.."who?