THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 24, 1999

Lee Westwood

LEE WESTWOOD: The course is fantastic this year. Excellent condition. Greens are excellent, as they were last year. A little bit firm, but nothing you can do about that if it doesn't rain.

LEE WESTWOOD: This is a proper golf course, no doubt about that. That is why you get the winners you get.

LEE WESTWOOD: It was a big confidence boost. It was probably one of my best performances of the year, I think, after an iffy start. To finish fifth was great, I thought. Obviously, I won the week after as well, which was probably a roll-on.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it is quite nice to think that I have got time the next week right before The Masters, so I can do the right kind of preparation.

LEE WESTWOOD: Not too much. Little bit of practice. Try and keep my eye and relax as well.

LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know where I am going yet.

LEE WESTWOOD: I just needed sort of a bit of a fresh approach, really. I didn't play particularly well last week and even worse on Sunday. I didn't think there was any point in standing on the practice round without anything to work on. So Butch kindly said he will have a look and he has obviously taken two players to the World No. 1 spot, so he knows what he is talking about. What he told me was right, and I started hitting it like my ol' self. That is one of the same things I worked on with Pete but just over in a different way.

LEE WESTWOOD: Just trying to get me to get a bit more width on the way back and on the way down. And I managed it in the end.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I played quite nicely in the practice round yesterday. I hit a lot of good shots.

LEE WESTWOOD: Depends on the wind really. Depends on how hard they let the greens go because there's holes in flag positions, you can't stop it with a sand iron, if I remember right from last year. When you get the flag on the front at 9 with the greens that firm, everything -- a good shot finished 25 feet past the flag. It will all be in the hands of the people who are setting up the course really. If he wants to watch the greens and we didn't have any wind, it wouldn't be that difficult, I think. I can't see it happening.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. The harder the better for me. I won't want too much wind, but the course can get as hard as it wants really.

LEE WESTWOOD: Not really. It is not that far away. It is fairly close. I haven't played a lot this year yet. I think this is my fourth tournament out in stroke-play, so it is not a great deal and I haven't had a chance to get into any kind of rhythm yet. I played okay in Dubai, which was good, second tournament of the year, so....-

LEE WESTWOOD: He asked me a couple of times and giving him my opinion. That is all I can do, really. At the end of the day we are all trying to beat each other, so, you don't sort of give too much help willingly.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, looked to be hitting it a little bit better. (inaudible) Lee Janzen and Frank Nobilo a good chance. Took their money off them.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I have got my shape back now, little bit left-to-right. At least I know where I am starting the ball. Before I was aiming left and trying to fade and pulling it; which is no good, but now it is generally coming back.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, the faster the greens get, the better for me. I like them as fast as possible.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very fast and firm.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think so.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think so. I think when The Masters finally gets there, I will be fine.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think it is a good form guide. But don't really matter, does it? It is not like you carry this week's score into The Masters. If I won it, it would be nice if you could, but -- yeah, similar kind of greens, there will be a similar speed by the end of the week, similar firmness, I would imagine.

LEE WESTWOOD: It is.

LEE WESTWOOD: With the firmness of the greens here obviously can't get that much spin on it and there is run-off areas, areas that have been designed exactly in the right places and like the back of the second, second shot in there, generally runs through the back, you go into one of these run-off areas; it is very difficult to get up-and-down. So your chipping has got to be good. You will see a lot of people using the 3-wood sort of running it up the banks. I think that will be a popular shot this week.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think we should be learning everything. But I think, as far as learning the greens is concerned, in Europe we don't play on greens half as fast as this. You can hit the putts a lot straighter and firmer. But here you can have a 15-footer, you can't just hit it straight and firm because it breaks; goes on left side and goes four, five feet pass or even further. You have to give it three foot of break sometimes and just dye it into the hole. That is learning the greens over here - the fact that you see a lot of good putts over here just dropping the ball in dead weight; whereas, in Europe you see the ball running in the hole fast.

LEE WESTWOOD: I prefer to dye the ball in, yeah. I think fast greens are good for people with good imaginations.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, good nerve as well. I don't know when the greens are like this because my eyes aren't that great, I would think the big breaks are easier for me to see than the soft, little ones.

LEE WESTWOOD: I am a bit short-sighted. I blame it on that one when I am putting badly.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I have heard a bit about it.

LEE WESTWOOD: I think it needed some sort of defense as the game has progressed, but I think they have gone a bit the right way. They didn't sort of jump in as soon as Tiger shot whatever he shot a couple years ago. They gave it a year, so, what happened last year -- they are not going to do it every year but there is a chance he will do it again. They have obviously put rough in; it will make it hard if the greens are firm which they should be, stopping the ball out of, you know, that little bit of rough is going to be a bit nearly impossible on those greens. So yeah, it will be good.

LEE WESTWOOD: I am all for anything that makes accuracy more important.

LEE WESTWOOD: Score.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I need to score about 20 shots less than I did last year.

LEE WESTWOOD: It is the way I have been playing going into both. I haven't been -- I was playing well going into The Masters last year, but just something didn't click with me. I didn't play particularly well. I don't know whether it is the way I have approached the majors. I am still learning to a certain extent. I have to plan for them and go into them correctly. I think I probably put too much emphasis on them. When I get there I do too much practice and I end up having three practice rounds, whereas, I am playing in the other event, I sometimes pitch up on a Wednesday and just play the Pro-Am.

LEE WESTWOOD: All together?

LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know.

LEE WESTWOOD: I can count them up if you want.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, that is right. People going about the young players on Tour, they put the 30-year-olds in my category, they don't realize I am five years younger than them. It is a bit off-putting sometimes. I am starting to think I am getting a bit old.