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Westwood turns to Johnstone for short-game advice

Lee Westwood is looking for an improvement in his short game © Getty Images

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Lee Westwood has begun working with former European Tour pro Tony Johnstone in a bid to improve his short game.

Westwood, the current world No. 4, parted ways with long-time coach Pete Cowan last week, having grown frustrated with the state of his game after missing the cut at the US PGA Championship.

Westwood's manager, Andrew 'Chubby' Chandler, revealed Westwood had begun working with "an unusual choice, not one of the usual suspects" as he bids to sharpen up his short-game - and that choice appears to be Johnstone.

The Zimbabwean, who has worked with Chris Wood and Robert Rock recently but otherwise has limited coaching experience, was renowned as arguably the finest bunker player on tour during his professional career - and 39-year-old Westwood is hoping to tap into that ability.

The pair worked together in Canada for a few days last week, and will reportedly also link up on the practice ground ahead of the forthcoming Barclays Championship.

"I've always been a fan of Westy," Johnstone told Golf Digest. "To be honest, it's always driven me a bit doolally not winning majors because of his short game."

He said: "The boy is just an enormous talent. Honestly, we worked on a couple things and within 15 minutes the stuff we talked about fell straight into place. I thought, 'What are we going to do for the rest of the five days?'"

Westwood is hoping Johnstone's advice can help him build towards breaking his major duck in 2013. The move has been greeted with approval by one former major champion, Nick Price.

"A wise choice," Price, a close friend of Johnstone, said. "Tony [is the most] underrated short-game player ever. I'm so happy for him, and I am sure he will help Lee a lot."

Johnstone, 56, won six times on the European Tour during his career - and still regularly plays on the Senior Tour.

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