Lee Westwood in Twitter spat with former footballer

Lee Westwood got involved in a row with a former footballer who likened his move to LIV Golf to match fixing.

Gordon Armstrong, who spent most of his career with Sunderland, compared the 49-year-old’s switch to the Saudi-backed league to footballers who deliberately lose matches for money.

Although he hastily deleted his tweet, Westwood was quick to pick up on it.

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“You’ve likened playing for another league to someone who commits a criminal offence of throwing football matches?” he replied.

“What an amazing grasp of reality! I’m sure your employers will be thrilled to hear this logic.”

Armstrong, who describes himself as a “huge golf fan”, hit back, claiming Westwood had “spoilt his reputation”.

“You took loads more money when you really don’t need it, which I never said was criminal, like Jon Rahm said you guys could never spend all your money, what I said was it has completely spoilt your reputation as a legend of European Golf,” he said.

However, he did apologise for his initial remark, which he admitted “went too far”, with Westwood accepting his apology. 

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Armstrong later deleted his Twitter account.

Westwood is in the field for this week’s LIV Golf event in Chicago, which begins on Friday. It marks his fifth outing on the breakaway tour.

The former world No.1 was one of the first big names to commit to the Greg Norman-fronted league, reportedly receiving an eight-figure sum in order to do so.