WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 11, 2000

Lee Westwood

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, that's right. I figured out this morning I'd have to come out quick. You seem to score around the front nine on this course. I did, sure enough. I got out in form, which just set me up for the day.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, you can always say that. Anybody that was walking around with me today would say I missed quite a few chances. You have days like that. Any day you walk off Valderrama under par, then you're normally delighted.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's driver, driver on 7. Pulled about 20 yards right of the flag. Go over bunker, I lobbed it up high; played it perfect. Pitched on the green, ran out, straight into the hole. Then 8, just under the trees on the right side of the eighth. Very close shot to the green. Hit a 9-iron, finished with 4 inches behind the hole.

LEE WESTWOOD: 138.

LEE WESTWOOD: 15, I caught a little 3-wood in to about 9 feet, I suppose, 10 feet. 1st, hit a driver wedge to 8 feet. 2nd, a driver wedge to 5 feet. Then I missed from 15 feet on the 3rd, 12 feet on the 4th, 15 feet on the 5th, 15 feet on 9, 8 feet on 11, 15 feet on 13, 8 feet on 17.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, but these greens are very tricky. Any time you have an aggressive partner that's going to the hole is when you hit it too hard. You normally just try to lag everything in.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. I don't think you can attack this course. You just have to be very patient, try and get off to a good start. If you don't get off to a good start, don't get carried away and get too aggressive, because that's when it bites you. That's when you start rolling it 5 feet past from 6 feet, that's when doubles occur.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. I've had bigger days, but it's nice to have a chance of doing well in the tournament. You never know where the leaders are going to be at the end of the day, but this is the kind of course where people don't run away. I could quite conceivably see 8-under leading at the end of today. Then again, people do get on a roll, and it is still possible to make a few birdies around the back nine. And 12-under could be leading. So who knows? There's no point in really worrying about it, because the rest of the day's out of my hands. I can only concentrate on what I've got to do tomorrow.

LEE WESTWOOD: It's out of my hands, or in my hands?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've given myself a great chance. I've put myself right in there. And if I finish second or third, as long as Darren's not second or third tied with me -- can't do anything about it. So I've given myself a great opportunity to do well this week, and then go on to win the Order of Merit if I play well enough, if I play as well as I've played today.

LEE WESTWOOD: It's obviously a very big tournament and a great one to win, with the likes of Tiger Woods playing. Any tournament with Tiger playing means much more than if he's not here.

LEE WESTWOOD: No. No, I didn't. I just worked on the same things I've been working on all year, and I was very patient out there. I didn't hit too many bad shots. The only bad hit I shot, really, was the one on the last.

LEE WESTWOOD: 5-iron. But it still wasn't that bad.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. No. If I look forward, he's 62,000 pounds in front of me.

LEE WESTWOOD: I didn't see any of his shots. We were quicker than him, so we were always a hole or more in front.

LEE WESTWOOD: Patience is always what it's about on this course. You just have to grind it out, really. It's one of those kind of courses. Very much like a US Open course. You have to be patient around those kind of courses. You just grind it out and pick up shots when you can and not try and drop any silly ones if you're losing your head.

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, he's got his wife with him, so he'll probably be having dinner with her. But he'll probably be in the same restaurant as me, yes.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, maybe.

LEE WESTWOOD: "Tweaking?" Is that the expression he used?

LEE WESTWOOD: Did he use the expression, "Digging up?" (Laughter.) Go on.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think it's got the potential to be a very good golf course with six holes "tweaked." (Laughter.) No, I mean, it is a very good golf course in fantastic condition. As he says, there are a few holes. I suppose more specifically, 11 he would have mentioned, which is not the greatest of holes. The further you hit, the more likely it is to go in the rough. 16, any time you get an opposite camber on a dogleg, then it is slightly silly, but that's the way it is. But having said that, you can hit the fairways. And when you do get on the fairways, they're in fantastic condition. The greens are always good, and I always enjoy coming here to play. I would agree with him. It has the potential to be one of the best courses in the world.

LEE WESTWOOD: Is this on the record or off the record?

LEE WESTWOOD: What would I do with 17? The only thing I'd do with 17 would be to -- I'd make the front of the green like the front of the 17th green at Sawgrass, so the ball didn't pitch on the green and screw back off. So if it screwed back off, make a collar - a real friendly edge. That's the third shots. Second shots would still be difficult. You know, like Tiger's 9-iron yesterday, it would still go in the water. It would come back in the water because it's short. It would stop the silliness of what happened to him last year, when he pitched on the green and it came back into the water.

LEE WESTWOOD: There are a lot of different ways of playing at the 18th, which you could argue makes a good hole or makes a bad hole. The hole gives you options off the tee. You can hit 2-iron, driver, 3-wood, depending on your shape of shot, the time you're playing it, the conditions. That could be tweaked as well.

LEE WESTWOOD: Rather play at the carpark here than at St. Andrews.