Westwood still doubtful for International Open

Lee Westwood remained a doubtful starter for the Benson and Hedges International Open as he went to tee off in the pro-am event with Ian Botham.

The Worksop player pulled out of his title defence in New Orleans at the weekend because of pain down his right shoulder and arm and said this morning: "If it hurts today I won't play tomorrow.

"My priority is getting ready for the US Open (in five weeks) - nothing else."

Ryder Cup captain Mark James will be getting the best possible view of the current state of Nick Faldo's golf game over the next two days.

The two have been paired together in the first two rounds at The Oxfordshire.

Faldo stands only 48th in the race for places in James' team for Boston this September, and unless he climbs into the top 10 by August 22 it will be up to the captain whether he earns a record-breaking 11th cap against the Americans.

In 10 tournaments this season 41-year-old Faldo has survived only four halfway cuts - and in addition to that he was knocked out in the first round of the Andersen Consulting world match play championship by Tiger Woods in February.

His latest setback came in the Spanish Open in Barcelona three weeks ago, where even struggling playing partner Seve Ballesteros out-scored him.

This week's defending champion Darren Clarke, another who has endured a terrible 1999 so far he is 70 over par and has just had to rest a back injury, partners Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal and Dane Thomas Bjorn.

Other eye-catching groups see Ian Woosnam and Sandy Lyle teeing off together with England's Van Phillips, who won his first professional event in Portugal in March, Colin Montgomerie with Paul McGinley and Per-Ulrik Johansson and also Westwood with Sam Torrance and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

The attention of the fans in today's eve-of-tournament pro-am was as much on the amateurs, however.

Clarke partnered former England manager Glenn Hoddle, a 16-handicapper; Faldo was with Sir Bobby Charlton (nine), and Westwood with six-handicapper Ian Botham.

Also playing were world snooker champion Stephen Hendry, Jimmy Tarbuck, Henry Cooper, television soccer pundit Alan Hansen and West Ham's Julian Dicks.