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ABU DHABI HSBC CHAMPIONSHIPJanuary 16, 2019Lee WestwoodAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Q. Your first competitive round in two months has ended in 66. Sum it up from your point of view. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it was really good. Putted lovely. My game was good, felt all right. When I missed fairways, struggled with that. This golf course, it seems a bit tight this year. There was a bit of a premium on hitting fairways, and I think if you do, you can score well. Around the round nine, I hit quite a lot of fairways and gave myself a lot of birdie chances. Q. We chatted yesterday about the new rules that are in place. You took your first knee-high drop today. Was there any putting with the pin in? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, a couple of long putts I kept the flag in just because it gave me better depth perception. I don't really get the idea of putting with it in from a short distance because as long as I've been playing on Tour, you see players taking the pin out when they're chipping when they feel like they can hole one. Why is it suddenly a good idea to keep it in when you've got an eight-footer? Q. Helen on the bag, your partner, having been on the bag in Nedbank when you won, I understand she's going to caddie this week and next week and then you're going to mix it up? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, Helen is caddying for me here and in Dubai next week, so we just go out and have as much fun as we can. It's great fun out there. Yeah, she keeps it very lighthearted for me, there's not much chat between the shots, and she claims to have read the 17th green correctly today. She just looked at me quizzically and said, "is this from the right?" Q. She's doing a grand job. LEE WESTWOOD: It went in, so I'll never hear the last of that. Q. That's a lovely way to start the year, isn't it? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very good. It's always nice to get back into it quickly and birdie the first four holes and was 6-under through 9, so I was getting back into it quickly. Q. When you get off to that kind of start, it must just give you some confidence and momentum. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, you can just relax, and I was just concentrating on trying to keep doing the things I was doing, and I was giving myself a lot of birdie chances, reading the greens well. I think there's a little bit more grass on these greens this year and there's a little bit more grain, and I think I'm finding that easier to read. Hopefully I just keep on holing the putts like I'm doing. Q. But it is a proper test out there, isn't it? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it is. A few of the fairways have been narrowed in, I think, and the rough is penal. It's not a case of it making no difference whether you're in the fairway or in the rough. It definitely makes a difference this year. Q. And you've given yourself a platform going forward now; how important is it in the broader picture, if you like, to make the most of that as much as you can? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know whether it's in the broader picture any -- I don't know what the broad picture is. Q. Just in terms of maybe -- LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's more of picking up where I left off last year and shooting good scores. Got off to a good start this week, and when you go out and somebody shot 10-under, you want to shoot a decent score to feel like you're within touch, touching distance. Obviously that was a good round of Shane's this morning and put a bit of pressure on the lads this afternoon, so it was nice to cut into that quickly with the four birdies to start. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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