PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 18, 2021

Lee Westwood

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the 2021 PGA Championship here at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.

Pleased to be joined by world No. 21 currently, Lee Westwood, who is playing in his 22nd career PGA Championship. Lee, I want to take you back a little bit to 2012. You were playing some of the best golf of your life really. Didn't go as well here. You didn't make the cut.

But in your best recollections, was that because of what looked like a ridiculously tough golf course, or you just weren't in form that week? What are your recollections?

LEE WESTWOOD: I don't think I putted very well. I think I was leading greens in regulation through two rounds and missed the cut. That's pretty self-explanatory.

I just remember it being a good golf course, tough golf course. It rained, so that made it a little bit easier; softened it up. I don't remember there being stupid amounts of breeze or wind. I imagine it can get really windy here.

But yeah, I just didn't putt well enough.

Q. Back in 2012 there was a really strong British and European sort of showing on the leaderboard. Is there anything about this place that makes you think that it suits a British or European challenge?

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. No explanation for that. Good players, I guess.

Q. How would you characterize the course?

LEE WESTWOOD: It's kind of like most courses up and down this coastline. You know, there's penalties for hitting it offline, which is great. You know, the greens are good. Some good variation in them, some upturns, some where the ball gathers in.

Obviously there's always a bit of breeze, which you have to control your ball flight and your spin. I guess it's a good striker of the golf ball's kind of golf course really. At the same time, you need a good short game because I don't think you're going to hit as many greens as normal.

I think it comes out as one of the hardest golf courses on TOUR, and you just have to have a good all-around game really.

Q. Given the great run in Florida, where are you at right now with your form?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, good. I played all right last week. Just managed to scrape into 21st with 15-under.

Yeah, I like the way I'm swinging it, hitting it, and yeah, every part of my game feels good.

I needed the three weeks off after Hilton Head and came back refreshed and ready to go again, and last week was good prep for this week.^

Q. You're going to a place and you keep hearing the label ball striker's course. Does that kind of light you up a little bit?

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. I don't know how I'm going to play from week to week, so it's in the lap of the gods really, and I just try and get my game in as good a shape for each week as I can and then try and hit that first fairway on the Thursday.

Q. Are you doing anything better now than you did 10 years ago on the golf course?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think not caring. Just playing -- taking each shot at a time on its merits. I think a lot clearer now. I have a much better perspective now than I did 10 years ago.

Q. Anything swing-wise, technique-wise, game-wise?

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. My game has been pretty consistent for 20 odd years now. I don't ever feel like it's ever really changed that much.

Backswing has got a bit shorter through age, but other than that, no. Mentally up there I still feel like a 25 year old with a few more creaks and groans when I get out of bed in the morning as a 48 year old, but no, my game feels pretty much where it was late '90s.

Q. I think there was an assumption if someone gets into, say, their mid 40s and the game dips that it's just age. Is it more than that sometimes? Is it desire for having done it for so long?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think it is. I think it's probably mental fatigue and losing the will to keep going out and working hard and practicing. I think physically if you keep yourself in shape you can go out there and hit as many balls at 48 as you could at 28, but do you want to and do you got the drive to do it. I think that's probably the first thing that goes.

Q. Did you lose it for a minute, the desire?

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I'm still here.

Q. I know you are now, but was there a stretch a couple years ago?

LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. I've worked hard pretty much all through my career. Probably one of the last to leave the range. I just work hard in a different kind of way now. I don't beat as many balls as I once did. I don't think at 48 I'm going to change much in my golf swing and stuff like that. I work on my short game a lot more, my putting, and I get in the gym and stretch a lot more and work on that side of it. That keeps me moving how I want to move.

Q. This super league thing is still kind of rumbling away. You're so immersed in the Ryder Cup, so immersed in the European Tour in particular. What do you think?

LEE WESTWOOD: I think there's pluses and minuses for everything. I think they've obviously got a lot of money and they've come out and sent a few shock waves about and people feel threatened. You know, the people that feel threatened are trying to combat it.

Q. Should we moralize it, where the money is coming from, and people getting paid a lot of money? Is that fair?

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, you could do that about everyone, couldn't you, so I'd prefer not to get into that.

Q. The fact that somebody could come up to you at 48 where you are today and offer you $50 million or maybe come up to you --

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, nobody has done that yet (laughing). Is this it?

Q. I'm sure the Saudis would let me be the agent here if necessary, but the question is is it hard -- not necessarily just you, but anybody -- hard to turn that down?

LEE WESTWOOD: For me at nearly 50 it's a no-brainer, isn't it? If somebody stood here and offered me 50 million quid to play golf when I'm 48, it's a no-brainer.

Q. What happens if they offer you 50 million and you're not sure if you're ever going to play golf again professionally?

LEE WESTWOOD: That's something you have to take into account. When all these things come along it's a balancing act, isn't it? You've got to throw the balls in the air and juggle them for a while and see what comes up.

You have to get all the facts together, first of all. I can see it from both sides, but I haven't really gone into depth in it, no.

Q. Because of where you are in the World Rankings and you take a look down the list, with a good month, you could actually be inside the bubble for the Olympics. Is that anything you've ever thought about?

LEE WESTWOOD: I have already pulled out. I've given notice that I'm not going to play in the Olympics.

Q. And just a reason why, because I must have missed that.

LEE WESTWOOD: How did you miss that, you of all people?

Many, many reasons. I have a few family commitments, and I already proved a few weeks ago that playing seven in eight weeks is not good for me. And there's already a lot of tournaments crammed in around there, Scottish Open, Open Championship. I need a couple of weeks off between there and the FedEx in Memphis.

Then there's only another week off and I could be playing three FedExCup events, the PGA, a week off, then the Ryder Cup. I want to be in good shape for all of those. I think going to Japan the week before Memphis, just with all that going on, is a bad idea, especially when I can't say whether I'm in it at the moment anyway.

I'm of an age where I need to make a plan and stick to that going forward, else my game suffers.

Q. Obviously Jon Rahm has talked about the fact that the whole thing sounds very difficult, where the golf course is, being where you are in Tokyo, so forth and so on. Do you think we maybe overshot in regards to bringing the Olympics to golf?

LEE WESTWOOD: I know why they brought the Olympics to golf, and I'm all for that. It's taking it to another audience, and obviously the funding from the Olympic committee feeds down through golf, which is great.

I just feel like maybe they didn't quite get the format right or the players that play in it right and the qualification right.

Q. I think it's something like 15 of the last 21 majors have been won by first-time major winners. Do you have any theory as to why that is? Is that just about strength of depth in golf? And does it give you renewed hope that there's still plenty of time for you to win one?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think it's just the strength in depth. I think the lads that come out now are ready to win. They're mentally prepared, and obviously they've got great games, and there's just a lot of good golfers around at the moment and not many majors to spread around between us.

Q. And about your own hopes for this week?

LEE WESTWOOD: I'm playing well. Hitting the ball nicely. I like the golf course. I think it sets up really well if I play well.

Like I said earlier, I'm just going to try and hit that first fairway on Thursday morning and hit the green, give myself a birdie chance, kind of get going, and carry on from there.

Q. It's been 30 years since the War on the Shore Ryder Cup at Kiawah Island. I'm curious what you remember of that event as a youngster.

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, even I was young back then. I think I was 18 watching it on TV. I remembered it being a good battle. Obviously Bernhard missed a short one on the last, and like most Ryder Cups, it was a close contest.

I think this is a fantastic venue for a golf tournament, especially the Ryder Cup. It's a thrills-and-spills kind of place. Yeah, it was just another exciting edition of the Ryder Cup. I think kind of around that era built it up to what it is today, so yeah.

Q. Your connection with the Ryder Cup, how much are you looking forward to the Ryder Cup this year? You were a vice captain in Paris. You were going to be vice captain here. Maybe you're going to do both --

LEE WESTWOOD: Hopefully not.

Q. How much are you looking forward to it?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, really looking forward to it. I've got a pretty solid position in the team at the moment, and I said to the lads when I was vice captain in Paris, I said, There's one thing worse than playing practice rounds at the Ryder Cup, and that's watching other people do it.

You know, you feel like you're really missing out. If you've played in the Ryder Cup you just want to be involved all the time. It's a great honor, and it's something once you get a taste of it, you don't want to let it go.

Q. I think Paris you were very supportive of picking Sergio. Will you pick him this year, and would you like to play with him again?

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I don't know what Padraig's intentions are. Obviously I played with Sergio in many matches in the Ryder Cup, especially foursomes. When you stand on the tee and you're pretty certain your partner is going to hit it, hit the fairway, or you're watching somebody hitting the green, you're pretty sure he's going to hit it close, it's a good feeling to have.

Sergio has always been a great Ryder Cup competitor, and his points total proves that. You know, it's tough to see a Ryder Cup without Sergio in it, so we'll just have to see how he plays from now until it's time to qualify or pick people.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time. Best of luck this week.