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ABU DHABI HSBC CHAMPIONSHIP

January 15, 2019

Lee Westwood

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

BRIONY CARLYON: Thank you, all. Delighted to be joined in the media center with Lee Westwood. Welcome back to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship Presented by EGA.

Lee, start of the 2019 season back here in the Middle East, how much are you looking forward to kicking it off here?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, obviously the way I finished last year off, I'm looking forward to getting going this year as quickly as possible. Sort of in the same vein of form.

You know, this is always a good place to start the year. Conditions are perfect and it's a good run of tournaments in pretty much guaranteed weather, and the golf courses are in brilliant condition normally, as well.

Yeah, it's a nice place to start the year. Get your swing grooved.

BRIONY CARLYON: You mentioned briefly, that win came in South Africa at a Rolex Series Event. We're back here as well for another one of the big events on The European Tour now with this event in Abu Dhabi being part of the Rolex Series. How much have you taken confidence from that win and again, you have Helen on the bag this week when she was there for that victory?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, you know, you take a lot of confidence from any win, but one in a Rolex Series, it obviously means a little bit more, and to finish it off as I did, which I haven't done for some time.

I hit a lot of good shots when I needed to and controlled myself well, so there were a lot of positives from that week, and the following week in Dubai, played well again.

You know, it's just a case of picking up where I left off, working on the same things for the start of this year and trying to get off to a pretty quick start. You know, try and get back in the Top-50 in the world if I can, and that will only come through good results and playing well. So basically, just stick to what I was doing.

Q. You played hardly any golf in the first half of last year. In fact, I probably played more than you did. Have you got a full schedule planned before the Masters to try to get in the Top-50?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. These three events and MÃ©xico are the only ones I have penciled in at the moment. Hopefully I'll be in the Match Play, as well, if I stay in the top 64 in the world. But they are the only ones I have penciled in at the moment.

It might change slightly. It might not. We'll just see.

Q. You did say in Dubai that you're not going to play sort of 30 events again, ever. What would be the ideal number this year?
LEE WESTWOOD: Between 20 and 23 probably. Somewhere around there, on the low side of that. I played 19 last year.

A couple more. Obviously I'd like to be in the major championships and the World Golf Championships. So yeah, I mean, maximum 23 I think.

Q. I know you've been in Dubai for almost two weeks now.
LEE WESTWOOD: No, I went home for a week. But I was here for the new year, yeah. I played some golf. But I went home to England for nine days.

Q. Okay. I just wanted to ask you whether it was all just fun and games for you when you were here, or with the family, or you really worked hard on your game, as well. How was the off-season like for you?
LEE WESTWOOD: Golf-free, really. I played three times when we came here but I didn't hit any balls. I didn't work on my game.

I don't really work on it that much anymore, the physical side of it. I work on the mental side of it and when I come out, I more or less practise my short game, and once I hit a few balls and got back into the swing of things, that doesn't take long to get back.

But the slowest things to come back are the putting and short game, normally. Well, mainly, the short game. So I generally focus on those and try and get them up to match fitness.

I try and stay fit during the winter. I put a few pounds on, but they will come off obviously over the next few weeks as I start to drink less and walk more.

Q. What do you mean when you say you work more on "the mental side"? Do you sit in a dark room or something?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I just think about it more. Actually as a Forest fan, I got to sit in a dark room, didn't I.

No, I work with a psychologist and I just run through scenarios in my head of the way tournaments can go and the way I'll think about things on the golf course when things happen so I'm prepared for it.

Q. How often do you see the --
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, during last season, he was with me almost weekly. But I've only seen him for a day between finishing last year and starting up this year.

Q. As a Forest fan, as you mentioned, how excited are you about the news that Martin O'Neill might be the new manager?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't care who the next manager is to be honest as long as he's given time. You know, they hire and fire too quickly for me, football teams now.

You know, there was a strange scenario that occurred at Forest. They talk about managers losing the dressing room and now we have one that the fans and players are right behind, and they decide to part company. So I can't really figure that out. You know, we're seventh in the championship and going for a playoff place, and he's done.

But if you're going to appoint anybody, then Martin O'Neill has obviously got a rich history with Forest and he's a proven manager at all different levels, so he would be the ideal appointment.

Q. And winning again at the end of last year, how does that change your mind-set going into this year, and in particular with the majors coming around?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, obviously wins give you a lot more confidence. You know, it's just a case of it's showing that all the practise is worthwhile. It's all right working hard, but you want to see the fruits of it at the end of it.

And, you know, I can stand on the range and hit good shots all the time but it's hitting them when it matters under pressure, and I was able to do that.

So you know, it validates all the hard work and practise, really.

Q. Are you going to putt with the flag in from six feet?
LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't really thought about it. No, I'd probably find it a bit off-putting to be honest. I like the cleanness of nothing there.

I think that being able to tap down, you know, like spike marks on the greens, especially around the hole -- I think overgardening will be a mistake, doing it too much. I think you'll see people overdoing it.

But I think when there's a massive spike mark from the group in front and they have walked off, because you know, my shoes pull the greens up a little bit and sometimes you don't see where you've ripped it up. To be able to tap that down I think is a good move.

But I won't be putting with the flag in, unless it's from a long way away and slippery, you know, downhill.

Q. What do you think -- as an elder statesmen, what do you think of the look of it, of people putting with the flag in?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I haven't really seen it to be honest. I don't watch any golf. Picturing it now, it will look a bit strange.

And to me, it makes the hole smaller. You know, there's a chance of it hitting the flag if it's going a bit fast. I suppose there's a chance of it hitting the flag and going in and slowing it down, but there's a chance of it hitting the flag and bouncing out. You know what a chip's like -- well, maybe you don't because you don't hit good chips.

But when you chip one and it's going towards the flag and it hits the flag and kind of rattles and comes out and you think, well, maybe that would have gone in with the flag out.

So six of one, half a dozen of the other, isn't it. Somebody will try and work it out and gain an edge or an advantage from having -- you know, they will work out the percentages if the flag is in or something like that, so they will be putting with it in all the time.

Q. Adam Scott said he's going to putt with it all year, even if it's a 6-footer to win the Masters?
LEE WESTWOOD: With the flag in? Saves his caddie from bending down, doesn't it, to put the flag in after he's won. So it's going to look a bit weird.

Q. This time last week, PÃ¡draig was telling us he went through a lot of soul-searching before he took The Ryder Cup captaincy. When your time comes, and it surely will, will you have any second thoughts at all?
LEE WESTWOOD: No.

Q. When do you start thinking about it, or are you looking at one more, after that win, you're thinking there could still be one last hoorah as a player?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, I'd love to have it in Italy. I'll not lie to you. That would be ideal for me to be captain in Italy. I think this time around, I proved the end of last year, that I can still win tournaments, and I feel like I can still qualify for a Ryder Cup Team.

So it would be daft to go to have gone for the next one, because you know, obviously I'd like to play in it. If I'm not there, then, you know, I'd like to help out in some way and gain a bit more experience, but after that, you know, Italy, I'll be 49, and that's the ideal time to be captain in my point of view. I'll still be playing out here. I'll still be in touch with the players.

You know, the start of every year now, I walk up and down the range, and there will be some people that I have no idea who they are. It will almost be 50/50 who I know and who I don't. So you've got to be out here so you know -- so you can keep an eye on the new talent coming out and you know autumn the players that are going to be there or thereabouts. So you've got a connection with them.

I think, you know, Tom Watson's captaincy at Gleneagles pointed that out; that he was just a bit too old and out of touch with the players that were on his team.

But at the same time, you know, you've got to, so you've got to have that connection, but at the age of 49, you know, my career will obviously be slowing down a little bit.

Like at 45, I don't play as much as I used to, so at 49 I can commit more time to it. I watched Thomas do it last year, and the year that your Ryder Cup captaincy is, you kind of resign yourself to not having as much time to practise and you're just not going to be as competitive. You know, at that age, you can throw everything into it rather than doing it, you know, a bit part.

Q. Gareth wants to know if you still get as excited as you did when you first came out on Tour ahead of a new season.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very much so. You know, it's a fresh start and it's a chance to do something spectacular for the year, and especially after finishing off well at the end of last year, I'm obviously very confident and looking forward to kicking the season off quick.

Q. And Michael Stevens is asking: Who you plan to have as your caddie for the year?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, Helen is caddying this week and next week. She's not doing Saudia Arabia. A friend is doing that, and my son's going to do it a little bit and Helen's going to do it. So just going to chop-and-change.

More or less, you know, caddie for myself now with the yardages and all that. I'm very clear on that in my own mind.

So you know, as long as you know where to go and what to do with regard to taking the flag in and out and knowing the rules and cleaning can the golf ball, raking bunkers, then pretty much anybody could do it I think.

I wouldn't want to be carrying that golf bag around the golf course. Just had to carry it out of the club storage and it weighs enough. Keep Helen fit and get her in the gym, and you know, work on her leg strength.

BRIONY CARLYON: Thank you for your time and all the best this week.

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