In a bizarre admission, Lee Westwood attributed his stubbonness in bringing six putters with him for a fortnight spell of competition in the States.

But after a session with the putting guru pair of Dave Stockton and his son, Westwood could not have been more pleased with the shortest club in his bag after the opening day of the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

Lee Westwood teeing off the 11th but it was his 27 putts that delighted the World No. 2. (Photo - Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)

The current World No. 2 recorded just 27 putts in what Westwood described was a best putting display in over two years.

Westwood’s three-under par 67 is his second best start in 13 straight appearances in the $US 8.5m Firestone event, and just one more than a best of a 66 on day one in 2000.

It left him sharing 13th place and trailing five strokes behind Australia’s Adam Scott who heads the elite field on eight under par. 

“To be totally honest, I have won a couple of times this year, lost in a play-off for the BMW PGA, and finished third in the U.S. Open, and I haven’t had a good putting week,” Wetwood said.

“So I am not going to sound big-headed but I keep going round in circles, and I haven’t had a good putting week since Dubai 2009.

“That’s not good enough.  I seem to be falling behind all these fellows and you can’t give up that much of an advantage on the greens.

“I have just not have been making enough putts even though I am giving myself a lot of chances.

“That just becomes frustrating and it filters down to the rest of your game, and you start worrying about hitting greens and not hitting it close enough.

“I missed a couple early on today and thought to myself ‘aah’ I’ve got to hit it close, and thinking I need to be in the fairway and it filters back to your driving.

“I work hard and part of what Bob (Rotella) was saying to me on Sunday is that you work hard to be able to stand on the golf course and just let it go, and free-wheel and that’s what I tried to do today.”

Westwood lays claims to over 100 putters lying about his Worksop mansion in England.

And when it’s come to putting, Westwood has always relied on his father, John for advice.

But after not having worked previously with a sports psychologies or a putting coach, Westwood was quizzed why he had not turned to the likes of Rotella and the Stockton’s long before.

“I’m a Taurus and just naturally stubborn,” he joked.

Bizarrely, Westwood has been featuring this week on the Golf Channel offering tips for putting.

And during the first round Firestone coverage, the Englishman starred in a putting commerical for Ping, his career-long equipment sponsor.