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Fresh off Europe’s Ryder Cup victory, Lee Westwood said he won’t play on the US PGA Tour next year, calling playing in Europe “what’s right for me now.” Westwood is currently ranked second in the world, and can unseat Tiger Woods and move to number one with a top two finish this weekend at the Alfred Dunhill Championship.

Westwood is the 10/1 betting favorite at Dunhill, slightly ahead of Ryder Cup teammate and world number nine Rory McIlroy, who’s at 11/1. McIlroy has also announced he will be playing less in the US next year, saying he plans to play only 25 tournaments next year, four less than the 29 he’s competed in this year.

However, the man who won the Ryder Cup-clinching match for Europe, 2010 US Open champion Graeme McDowell will be playing on the US PGA Tour in 2011. McDowell, who’s rated at 20/1 to win the Dunhill, explained his plans to play more in America:

I won’t be playing as many events in America as, say, Luke Donald and Justin Rose, but I am taking up my card. I had one in 2006 but got injured early in that season and now I want to give it a real try.

Westwood said his family and manager were a big part of his decision to stay in Europe. Westwood said the US PGA Tour’s FedExCup playoffs (not to mention the $10 million top prize) “doesn’t really mean that much to me” and “sits right in the middle of the kids’ summer holidays.”

Westwood feels he’s accomplished enough without the PGA Tour, and is confident he’ll continue to do so:

I think [the PGA Tour] would like me to go and be a member there, but as of Monday evening I became an individual again and I do what’s right for Lee Westwood now. … [manager Andrew “Chubby” Chandler] said ‘why take up membership in the States when you’ve been the most successful player in the world this year and [despite missing seven weeks because of injury] still have a great chance to go to world number one? You’ve come second in two major championships, you must be doing something right, why not stick to the same schedule?