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NEDBANK GOLF CHALLENGE PRESENTED BY GARY PLAYER

November 10, 2018

Lee Westwood

Sun City, South Africa

Q. What is it about this place you love so much? You play so well all the time?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think it requires hitting it straight, and I think it requires a lot of patience because the breeze is changing and things like that, and you do get some strange things happening out there because of where it is.

The greens, I've always enjoyed putting on these greens. A lot of imagination on them. Sometimes you get some big breaking putts. It reminds me in a little way of Augusta the way you have to tackle it. You have to play away from pins and sometimes you have putts that you don't want or leave in a spot where you can't get it up-and-down.

It just suit a lot of aspects of my game and I feel comfortable playing on this kind of grass. You know, kikuyu doesn't suit everybody, and you know, I have good ball control and I tend to hit a lot of fairways, so yeah, it suits me.

Q. You won the Data here many, many years ago.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I won the Data in 2000. Lost in a playoff to Ernie. Come close a few other times and obviously won it twice. Yeah, my stroke average is pretty good around here. It's a golf course I feel comfortable on.

Lovely to be in contention. Obviously 45, playing against these kids. I was chatting to Lee, we were chatting today, I said, "How old are you?"

He says, "23," because he tapped my belly and went like that, and went "little belly" like that.

I said, "How old are you?"

He said, "23."

I said, "You've got another 22 years of eating and drinking to get to that stage." That's taken a lot of effort, that, I'll tell you.

Q. No stranger to South Africa as you've mentioned. You've played very well here in the past and you've put yourself in great position going into round four. The South African fans could love to see a big push from you tomorrow, as well. Are you excited for round four?
LEE WESTWOOD: Very excited. I'm always excited when I'm in contention. It's always lovely being in the last couple of groups in this tournament, the crowds are always very enthusiastic and given me a lot of support.

You know, I'm not going to say I feel a little bit South African because obviously we least you in the rugby last weekend and probably Englishmen aren't that popular down here at the moment. I've always had a lot of support and backing from the South African people down here.

Q. You were telling me yesterday that the main thing you want to do in this state of your career was enjoy yourself. How enjoyable was 3-under today?
LEE WESTWOOD: Really enjoyable. Had a great time out there. Started off a bit sluggish, steering it a little bit but started releasing the club and hit some good shots. You know, hit quite a lot of fairways, which is what you need to do around here.

Q. Holed some lovely par putts on 15, 17 and 18. How crucial were they to stay in touch?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, they are always important. You know, they are not easy holes, the finishing holes.

Q. How taxing is this course mentally, where any lapses in concentration can be so costly?
LEE WESTWOOD: The second shot on 17 went from a 7-iron to a 9-iron in the space of about 25 seconds, so those sort of things drain you mentally and will wear you down if you let them. It's one of the things we play on this golf course; you've got to be mentally very strong and think your way around the golf course well.

Q. How much are you looking forward to chase down Sergio and win for the third time?
LEE WESTWOOD: I always look forward to being in contention playing in the last few groups but even more so when it's a golf course like this where I've done well in the past. It's a tournament I love playing in and I love coming back to Sun City. Yeah, it's a good spot to be in.

Q. What's an assessment of round today?
LEE WESTWOOD: It was a good round of golf. I think when there's just a little bit of breeze switching around like that, this golf course plays tricky. You have to have a lot of patience and think your way around it well. I did that well today. I hit a lot of fairways. It's a bit easier to play this place from the fairway.

Q. Draining I think is the word people used fairly often coming in today. Tough mentally to keep on battling out there?
LEE WESTWOOD: There's no doubt about it, it's a mental challenge. The situation out there on 17 where there's water short and it's not very long, and flag is on the front and it went from into the wind to straight off the right to down off the right in the space of about 25 seconds, so that's like a 7-iron right around to a 9-iron.

Those kind of things will wear you down at the end of the week if you let them, but as long as you keep hydrating and do the right things on the golf course, it's one of those things you have to tackle with golf. It's a mental game.

Q. As far as your play is concerned, how much do you rely on past experience and being a past champion here? Does that help you at all?
LEE WESTWOOD: Very much so. It obviously helps to have played it a lot. I don't know how many times I've been around this golf course but probably the most out of anybody in the field.

Q. Going into tomorrow, what do you take from your performance tomorrow and how do you approach the final round?
LEE WESTWOOD: Just that I'm playing solidly and I'm making a few putts when I need to. They were good putts on 15 and 17 and 18 coming in. They weren't long but they were 15 feet on 15 and a couple of nice 4-footers on the last two holes. They are the kind of putts that keep your momentum going and keep you in contention.

Q. Looking forward to being in the mix?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it will be nice. It's not my first time in contention here. It's always a fantastic atmosphere out there on the weekend at the Nedbank. Everybody tends to get behind me. It's a nice place to be, in contention on a Sunday at the Nedbank.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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