Golfer Lee Westwood’s Ace in the Hole Is His Fiancée and Caddie, Helen Storey
Published March 14 2021, 1:53 p.m. ET
If you think Lee Westwood is married to his caddie, you aren’t far off! The pro golfer — who’s competing in the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., on Sunday, March 14 — is engaged to caddie Helen Storey.
“Obviously I get on well with Helen,” Lee told reporters during the 2019 Open Championship, per Golf Digest. “She doesn’t know too much about golf, but she knows a lot about the way my mind works. So she keeps me in a good frame of mind and focusing on the right things at the right time. There’s more to the caddying than carrying and getting the wind direction.”
Lee Westwood’s fiancée has been his caddie for years now.
Helen became Lee’s caddie in 2018 after he parted ways with his former bag man, Billy Foster, over disagreements, according to Page Six. Her first event as caddie was the 2018 Made in Denmark tournament, during which she replaced a slab of grass that Lee dislodged with one of his swings.
“She’s walking back with the divot like this,” the English golf star told Golfweek in 2019, imitating Helen holding the clod of grass at arm’s length. “She said, ‘I hope there’s not a worm in this.’”
Carrying Lee’s bag is “no easy feat,” he says.
Not only is Lee smitten with Helen, he’s also impressed with her dedication to the job. “It’s no easy feat carrying that golf bag around,” he told Golfweek. “Especially in this [rainy] weather, because it’s fully loaded up. I don’t give her an easy break or anything like that. It’s got everything in it.”
(Speaking of weather-related issues, Helen commented on her sweatiness during a Masters practice round in 2020, writing on Instagram, “I’d win the wet vest competition! 1000% humidity out there.”)
Sometimes Helen gets a break, though, like she did at the 2019 British Open. “She’s delighted because they’ve got their own rakers,” Lee told Golfweek at the time. “She doesn’t have to rake the bunkers.”
Helen is one of Lee’s “secret weapons,” another golfer observes.
Lee and Helen started dating after the golfer’s 2015 divorce from Laurae Coltart, his wife of 16 years, according to Page Six. The newspaper also reports that Graham Wylie, Lee’s friend and Helen’s brother-in-law, played matchmaker. (The same report has other gossip: Apparently, Laurae claimed Lee had an affair and that the golfer denied the allegations.)
According to Golf Monthly, Helen hails from Newcastle, England — close to the Close House estate, where Lee has two namesake golf courses — and she works as a fitness consultant when she’s not caddying for her husband-to-be. She has a daughter from a previous relationship, while Lee shares two children with Laurae.
Plus, Helen is keeping Lee’s head in the game, according to fellow golf star Bryson DeChambeau. “She’s keeping [Lee] steady and level-headed, and she’s a rock,” he said, per Page Six. “[She] keeps his mind focused on the right things, and she’s been awesome for him. That’s one of his secret weapons, I think.”