• US PGA Championship

Westwood sorry for Twitter outburst

Lee Westwood saw another chance to land his first major slip away at Oak Hill © Getty Images

Enlarge

Lee Westwood has issued an apology for a late-night Twitter outburst at critics of his performance at the US PGA Championship.

Westwood was one shot off the pace after the first round at Oak Hill, but followed up a 66 with a three-over 73 to slip out of genuine contention, even after a solid third round. Having recovered to three-under on Saturday, the 40-year-old slumped to a six-over 76 in the final round.

Most of his ensuing tweets appeared between 9am and 10am on Monday morning, or between 4am and 5am on the American east coast.

Dufner unchallenged for title

Furyk shot even par © AP

• A fantastic display from Jason Dufner to win the US PGA Championship - but Jim Furyk struggled to put the pressure on his playing partner, writes Alex Perry.
• Click here to read the full article.

"Sincere apologies to my sponsors and true followers for my earlier comments" he tweeted. "It was out of order and out of character, Westy."

Having blown a two-shot lead on the final day of the Open at Muirfield earlier this season, the backlash to another missed opportunity to land his maiden major victory on the social networking site prompted the 40-year-old to take his critics to task.

"Like I give a f*** what the haters say," started one such tweet. "That's life. Some people will always be just a little bit better and work just a little bit harder.

"Come on you girly boy trolls! I've only won just over two million on the course this year. Need you to keep me entertained a bit longer than this.

"I love slagging people back. Had enough of sitting there taking it. Bring it on.

"Not (aimed at) my decent human beings followers of course. Just the p***** that should be locked up by the twitter police.

"Not been hacked. Just being honest. Bored now. Westy out."

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

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd