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Now or never for Westwood - Montgomerie

Lee Westwood was runner-up at The Masters and The Open Championship in 2010 © PA Photos

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Colin Montgomerie has urged fellow Brit Lee Westwood to seize the moment in order to claim his first major title.

Westwood, 38, will head into the US Open with high expectations after three-time winner Tiger Woods pulled out of the tournament after the recurrence of a knee and Achilles injury.

Montgomerie, a five-time runner-up in majors himself, said that the immediate future may be a career-defining time for Westwood.

"I do think these next eight majors leading up to Lee's 40th birthday are critical," he told the Daily Mail.

"If he could just get over the line I could see him winning three or four but he has to get over the line quickly or the danger is, like myself, it will not happen. People often compare Lee to myself and I know better than anyone how much harder it gets."

Westwood is the only player to have ever finished inside the top three in all four majors without winning one. However, in what may be an omen, the Englishman made his US Open debut in 1997 at the Congressional Country Club, the course for this year's tournament.

On that occasion Westwood finished 19th - tied with Woods.

Since the 2011 Masters, Westwood has won two of the four tournaments he has competed in, but is acutely aware of the added pressure a major brings.

"When you look at my career you have to say that winning a major is the only thing left for me to achieve, so that's why I am putting so much time and effort in trying to win one," Westwood said.

"It is a fine line when you get really close a few times. You're frustrated but still seeing the positives in it, the fact you are nearly there. It's a tricky balancing act between going in with expectations but playing with freedom as well."

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