WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 12, 2000

Lee Westwood

LEE WESTWOOD: Very drained, you know, emotionally. Not so much physically. But it was a very, very long day out there. The front nine wasn't so long. The front nine didn't take so long. But the back nine, especially the last -- well, the last three holes were a very long affair. 17, somebody was looking down on me there to get a free drop. I hit a poor drive, and that was probably the best 6 I've made in my life.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. I knew obviously that you get a free drop, because it was -- sat in one of the drainage things that they've been giving free drops for all week. Other than that, it really would have been in somebody's back garden. I played solidly all day, and got a little bit unlucky on 14. Finished in a divot on a fairway, on the edge of the fairway; I made bogey there. I thought before the 14th I really got the momentum to almost win the tournament. But once I dropped a shot at 14, then it was always going to be difficult for me, because then winning the tournament was sort of in the back of my mind, and winning the Order of Merit sort of came to the front of my mind.

LEE WESTWOOD: It's a reward, and it's -- to everybody else, you know, it just means that the combination of winning five times, and when I haven't won, I've been highly placed. It's the consistency of the whole year coming to a pinnacle. I would have been a little unfortunate to have won five times this year and not have won the Order of Merit, even though Darren and Michael Campbell and Monty and Thomas Bjorn have all had good years. For me, it's just the reward for the consistent -- top-five placings, really. I could call myself European No. 1 for a whole year. (Smiling.) And a pound.

LEE WESTWOOD: Myself and Darren were very close in terms of Order of Merit. Around August time, we had a few too many Long Island iced teas, I think it was, in America, and we both decided that we needed to have a bet because it was so close. We decided that we'd have a pound on it. As soon as I've gotten the score, he paid me up: A pound. I'm going to go home and frame it.

LEE WESTWOOD: I could have gone back, played 3 off the tee; could have taken a penalty drop. I could have got out of it with two club lengths and probably got to where I got in three anyway. So... But that's all by the by, anyway.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. I've got a couple of weeks off before the Million Dollar, so I'm looking forward to that tournament. Then I'm looking forward to playing one tournament before Dubai, I think, defending the Dimension Data with dad. So he'd better get practicing.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I was more emotional than I think I've ever been. I've played in the winning Ryder Cup team, I've won lots of tournaments all around the world. But, you know, there was nothing quite like today, really, playing that well, under that kind of pressure.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think if you'll watch the highlights tonight, you'll see my knees shaking and shirt flapping on the 18th green after the first two putts. That's about as nervous as I've been standing on that last green there, having to 2-putt. After I made bogey at 17, I thought, "I've got to make par down the last two to win the Order of Merit." Then I hit two great shots onto the green. That's tough to make. And I got it closer than I imagined I was going to get it. I got to like 25 feet. Then the first one, I knew it could be quick if it got away from me. I managed to get it down there two feet short, I suppose, which looked about 12 feet. Then I managed to bang it in. So...

LEE WESTWOOD: No. But my caddie's got my phone, so he's probably spoken to him. Monty's had a good, long reign now. And when you win one Order of Merit, and it's that hard to win it, it makes you appreciate how good seven Order of Merits in a row are. I don't think it will ever be done again.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah.

LEE WESTWOOD: I hit a pitching wedge, which I thought was a pretty good shot, but it didn't get any spin on it, obviously, because of the lie. Then it went back into the hole, so I got some iron on that hole. I teed up on the tee.

LEE WESTWOOD: I got it down there to about 5 feet.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Well, I couldn't be as aggressive then because I had other things on my mind at that stage. But until that point, really, going out there on 13, hitting the birdie, I was thinking about winning the tournament. But then, you know, it just changed my mind completely.

LEE WESTWOOD: Well Pete Cowen's helped me a lot for the last four years. He's helped me a lot this year as well. We had a bit of a rest in the middle of the year. But over the last couple of months, he's worked out with me. We're going to keep on working out and try and sort a few things out. But, you know, I've been coached well throughout my career by John King and David Leadbetter and Butch Harmon have helped me this year. There's a lot of people who have helped me.

LEE WESTWOOD: He said, "Well done." (Laughter.) And I said, "Thank you." He said it was a great performance today. He was very gracious. I think to be honest, if you asked him as well, what was said, when I was scratching around at 17, I had been playing so well to that stage, he actually said he wouldn't have wanted to see me take 10 or 11, or whatever I could have taken, to win the Order of Merit in that matter. So, you know, that's the kind of guy he is.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. It's been a long, drawn-out affair. Cut the driver for tee. Went into a drainage. Got a free drop; still not the greatest. Hit a 3-iron to the trees; clipped. 7-iron, run across the fairway into a semirough. 9-iron from 160; pitched a couple yards past the flag, ran 20 feet by, I suppose, and nearly holed the putt. It was a good 6.

LEE WESTWOOD: 3-iron out in the trees, yeah. Then 9-iron out on to the green.