Only Sir Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Colin Montgomerie and Seve Ballesteros have accumulated more points for Europe since he made his debut at Valderrama in 1997.
He has been a lionheart.
But, if captain Paul McGinley is honest with himself, he will be considering the unthinkable for Gleneagles in nine months’ time. Leaving Westwood out.
Westwood, who will be 41 by the time of the defence, has not won a tournament for 18 months.
He has slipped from seventh at the start of the year to No 25 in the world rankings.
The move to the USA a year ago that he hoped would reinvigorate his golf seems to have had the opposite effect.
“I don’t really grade my years but, if I was to, it would be about a ‘C’ this year,” is his honest assessment.
Since the qualification race started in August, Westwood has done little of note. As things stand, he lies a lowly 29th on the qualification points list.
If the team for Gleneagles was to be named tomorrow it would read: Ian Poulter, Thomas Bjorn, Victor Dubuisson, Henrik Stenson, Sergio Garcia, Jamie Donaldson, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano plus three wildcards.
Luke Donald, who won last month in Japan, and Graeme McDowell, three times a champion on both sides of the Atlantic this year, are both ranked above him.
As things stand they are the more logical picks. That leaves Westwood fighting it out for one place with, among others, Martin Kaymer, who holed the putt to retain the Ryder Cup at Medinah, .
From that victorious team there is also Nicolas Colsaerts to consider.
The monster hitter was a hero for Europe in Chicago and again yesterday in winning the final point on the final green as Asia were defeated 8-7 in the Royal Trophy after another remarkable comeback.
McGinley also has Francesco Molinari to take into consideration and Paul Lawrie, too, if he wants to fly the Saltire at Gleneagles, as well as the ageless Miguel Angel Jimenez and the thrusting continental young guns Matteo Manassero and Joost Luiten, who can be expected to push on in 2014.
If Westwood was playing like the real Westwood there would be no contest. He would be in. But that is not the situation.
Westwood’s putting has never been up there with the Steve Strickers of this world, but now his strong suit, his driving, has started to leak shots, too.
Where once he could be relied upon to thread a needle, that reliability has waned.
Westwood is ranked 66th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy and 71st on the European Tour list in 2013 even with his third-place finish at The Open.
“I haven’t been settled in a swing all year,” he admitted.
“I haven’t had a week where I hit it properly. I didn’t even hit it well in the Open. I just know how to get around and I putted well.
“My swing hasn’t been in sync all of this year really and I’ve sort of been fumbling my way around the golf course. It’s something I’m going to work on over the winter.”
These few weeks are crucial then as, with his coach Sean Foley, he tries to rectify a wonky angle of attack that has resulted in him coming in too steeply on the downswing
If he makes progress he should be able to work his way up the qualification ladder rapidly.
The bulk of the points are still to play for and, as long as Westwood remains inside the world’s top 50, he will be involved in all the key tournaments.
After a period of destabilising change, he has the familiar figure of Billy Foster back on the bag alongside him. But caddies do not play the shots and neither do coaches.
When he returns to action next month on the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup captain McGinley could do with some hard evidence that the ship is turning around.
Westwood needs four-and-a-half points to become Europe’s highest Ryder Cup points scorer. If he is to achieve it he needs to play at Gleneagles.
And if he is to play at Gleneagles, he needs to perform a lot better in the first six months of 2014 than he did in the last six months of 2013.
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