THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 21, 2001

Lee Westwood

LEE WESTWOOD: Yes, I do. It's a good golf course, good setup here. I've played well here in the past, so I'm looking forward to this week.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, after all of the rain we've had, the fairways are soft, and because this -- this weather can suck the water out of the greens so they will be firm enough. It will make every aspect of the course hard.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'm playing well enough to have a good finish. At the end of the day, it's just how many putts you hole.

LEE WESTWOOD: I have no idea. Absolutely none. Can't even come up with a decent explanation.

LEE WESTWOOD: I'll see if I agree.

LEE WESTWOOD: So he was saying the European players are not straight?

LEE WESTWOOD: No. I don't think the greens get any firmer than they do at Augusta. I can remember a couple of years ago on a Thursday at Augusta where you could not hold the 17th green there. That was the year Mark O'Meara won. Scores were like 78 because the greens were that hard. I don't think that theory particularly works, and I don't think the one that Augusta is wide open and this one is not, really, has much relevance. I don't think there's any player in the world, or certainly any player playing here that doesn't hit it reasonably straight.

LEE WESTWOOD: The greens, obviously, in the past have been very, very firm. The rough is very long. You know, you miss the greens, it's difficult to get it up-and-down because the greens are so firm, they get so quick it just runs off into these, you know, gathering areas. The wind plays a certain effect on everything, with there being a few trees around here, it swirls around here quite a lot. And it's just a difficult golf course. It's long. A lot of long, demanding par 4s and not many reasonable birdie chances. You can narrow it down to really, the 2nd and 11. 16, I suppose is a birdie chance, but fraught with danger, as is 11 and 2. So, you know, you can easily make birdie on those and quickly run up a 7. So that's why this course is so hard, I think.

LEE WESTWOOD: I would not.

LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know. My wife and I haven't decided yet.

LEE WESTWOOD: She's fine, thank you. And it's not that hard to concentrate, really. It's quite easy to separate yourself away from everything for four and a half, five hours each day. I know at the start of the day I need to play the tournament, and that's what I'm concentrating on. You know, I can't really have any effect on what happens, so...

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. First available flight.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah possibly, I would do for the future. Not at the moment I'm thinking about coming over, but I would not dismiss it. I'm beginning to enjoy playing over here; the tournaments are great. The big tournaments, there's 20,000 people that turn up most days. It's a good atmosphere. I would not dismiss it.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think to play the Tour over here full-time, you know, you would have to consider getting a base here. So that would be the biggest adjustment. You know, going from tournament to tournament is not the ideal scenario for playing good golf, I don't think.

LEE WESTWOOD: There seem to be a lot of good 20-year-olds now. I think people are maturing younger as golfers now, as well, which means that these 20-year-old guys are winning, as opposed to, even in my generation it was sort of like 24, 25 years old before you won. I don't know the reason for that, but there are a lot of good, young players around the world. Aaron Baddeley is very good -- Adam Scott I mentioned, Justin Rose. Sergio obviously has established himself.

LEE WESTWOOD: No. I can't, to be honest. I think the college system has a lot to do with it. They do turn pro a lot later. So, you know, they don't get the chance to win at 20 because they are in college until, what, 22, 23.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think it is a bit too early to say, really. You know, the big guns have already played at the start of the year this year, so there's people on the fringes. Woosie (Ian Woosnam) is 20th, he's played one tournament at Dubai, finished third. If he keeps playing the way he is, he could very well play his way in now, quite easily. I don't think you can read too much into the early season. There's always a few people that get in there and stay in there, and there's a few people that get in there and fall out in tournaments or start later.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't mind who I play with, honest. I get along with most people over here. It's just a draw and you -- to be honest, you're not really focusing on what anybody else is doing. You're just concentrating on your own game and trying to build a score in your first two rounds.

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I quite like being chatted up. (Laughter.) I think he might like it differently. No, some people it can be distracting, but I can't think of anybody that, you know, that I particularly don't like playing with out here that gets on my nerves.

LEE WESTWOOD: Not really, no. I don't mind who I play with. I played with Freddie last week. I enjoy playing with Freddie. You know, there's certain people that swing the club and they have great rhythm. I enjoy playing with those. I enjoy playing with Ernie. I enjoy playing with Vijay; he has quite a long, relaxed swing. And Freddie is the same. As far as personalities go, most guys out here are good.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Yeah. It's nice to play with somebody aggressive, going for it out there.

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I just think playing over here more often has, you know, made me feel more relaxed and comfortable over here. You know, we are starting to get things right, as far as hotels and houses are concerned. It can all make a difference.

LEE WESTWOOD: I should think there would be if you had not won --.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. That's what I would say, you would feel like there was something missing if you have not won over here, especially if you have played quite a bit over here. It's like if you didn't win a major; you would feel like there was something missing with where you stand yourself because you feel you should win one. So, yeah.

LEE WESTWOOD: No. Not really. I have no wish to meddle with nature; just naturally.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I do set goals at the start of the year. Sometimes you achieve them by May time or June time. It's the problem what you do for the rest of your year then when you've achieved your goal in May or June. So goals can be good in one aspect and bad in others. It's good to set goals, but sometimes, you know, not pay too much attention to them. It's good to set a goal and forget about it for the rest of the year, until you sit down at the rest of the year and say, "Yeah, I achieved that," and see what else you can get. You can get too relaxed an attitude once you've achieved it.

LEE WESTWOOD: No.

LEE WESTWOOD: To be honest, I have not set any for my career. Obviously, people would say you'd like to win majors and things like that. I suppose one of my goals would have been to have won the Order of Merit in Europe, which I've already done. So, you know, that's the danger you can get with setting goals for careers. So for the next, 13, 14, 15 years, playing on the European Tour, do I just accept that one Order of Merit is enough or carry on and try to beat Monty's seven?

LEE WESTWOOD: I think I set my goals high enough. Sometimes you exceed your expectations.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think the British, the Open Championship is the one I would most like to win, but I don't think it's the one that I have the best chance at. I think I have a better chance in something like the U.S. Open, or maybe the Masters or even the PGA. I think the British Open would always be the one I was least likely to win.

LEE WESTWOOD: Just because it's links golf, and I've not got a particularly suited game to links golf and playing in strong winds. I prefer, you know, almost the target golf that is over here.