WGC DELL TECHNOLOGIES MATCH PLAY

March 24, 2022

Lee Westwood

Austin Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Do you feel like there's a little revenge for Bay Hill last year?

LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, no, no, not at all. No. And I don't know the reason why. You just go out and you try and beat the guy in front of you regardless of what you've done against somebody in the past. Yesterday I had never even played with Talor before and I didn't really know much about his game, and then obviously I've played quite a bit with Bryson, and we had a chat going round, and I enjoy his company, so it was a good match to be involved in. We threw some birdies at each other, we halved holes 11 and 2, 10 and 3, 17 and 2. I had to make eagle on 16.

Yeah, it was very to and fro, and just a really good match play match to be involved in.

Q. What did you have on 16 for your second?

LEE WESTWOOD: Good question. See, I'm getting old. I have to look.

Q. I thought it was such a spectacular shot you wouldn't forget it.

LEE WESTWOOD: It was a 7-iron from 196.

Q. What are your thoughts on 13?

LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's a great hole.

Q. Even with the wind?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yes.

Q. Why?

LEE WESTWOOD: The only thing I don't like about it is the danger to the crowd. Obviously there's the tents there and there's the option to hit 3-wood off there or driver off there and just clatter it into those tents and then you get a drop out and a chip onto the green. Whatever it is, I can't figure it out. Something should probably be done about that. But I think it is a very good short par-4.

Q. Tyrrell said he wasn't a huge fan of the drop zone, I guess.

LEE WESTWOOD: Well, that's the problem. You crash it into those right-hand stands, it endangers people and then you've got to drop in a good spot on the edge of the green.

Like I say, thinking about it now, I can't figure out what needs to be done, but something clearly needs to be done.

Q. You're playing Blandy tomorrow. Do you think an ambulance is going to be following you guys tomorrow?

LEE WESTWOOD: What are you trying to say? An ambulance? Hey, I'm the young guy. He's the 49 year old. I'm still 48 for another month.

Q. That's a joke from Blandy.

LEE WESTWOOD: We played on the same boys' team together, England Boys' Team, so we've known each other a long, long time, so it'll be fun to play with him again. He's obviously -- is he leading the group now with one and a half? Myself and Talor have got one. It's back in my hands, isn't it. If I beat Blandy and Talor wins, then we play off. There's all sorts of different scenarios. Yeah, it'll be two old guys wobbling around.

Q. What year was that junior golf with Blandy, 1960 --

LEE WESTWOOD: It would have been around '90. Cheeky. Yeah, 1990, maybe '91. We were just whippersnappers.

Q. You would have been at La Costa in '99; I think probably the only one in the field --

LEE WESTWOOD: I'm probably the only one here that played in '99, yeah.

Q. Anything you've learned over the years, plus whatever you've played in Wentworth and --

LEE WESTWOOD: Clearly not. I've never won it. The best I've ever done is the semifinal, lost against Rory.

Q. That was Arizona, right.

LEE WESTWOOD: What I've learnt over the years is if I were (indiscernible) I wouldn't because it's so volatile and anybody can beat anybody. Looking back through the years, yes, favorites have won it, but they've been turned over, and at least with this format the round-robin you can -- maybe come up against somebody who has a really special day and you lose or you can have a bad day and you can come back from that.

You know, some people like that. Some people I'm sure who would have lost yesterday would have preferred to be going home last night and it be very final like that, but I prefer the round-robin format where you are given a slim hope if you can kind of regain your game after losing the first day.

Q. Would you have figured it out quickly from '99 onward that it's not good to have great expectations when you get here?

LEE WESTWOOD: It's not. I've been in all sorts of different scenarios. I remember losing to Scott Verplank on the eighth extra, something stupid like that, seventh extra. I remember playing Davis Love one year and we were very early out, like first or second at La Costa, and he beat me 8 & 7 or 7 & 6, and I think I was having my second breakfast at 10 past 9:00 in the morning, out of the tournament and looking for the first flight from LA home.

Yeah, there's lots of strange things happen this week, and I think that's what makes it fun, the volatility of it all, yeah. I like match play. I think we probably should play it a little bit more. I think the fans like it.

Q. Did you ever do well at Wentworth?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I won that.

Q. Well there you go.

LEE WESTWOOD: That was when it was over 36 holes, so it wasn't quite as volatile, but we haven't got time. We'd be playing the tournament for two weeks, wouldn't we, if we did that.

Q. How do you feel like your game, maybe mentally, too, compared to this time last year because you were on a real heater last year, just curious where this kind of stacks up.

LEE WESTWOOD: It's all right. It's not great. I wouldn't say I'm in control fully. But it feels like it's not far away. I'm hitting enough good shots to give me enough hope to kind of keep working on the things I'm working on and know that it could change next week and it could change tomorrow. Just keep working on the same things. Golf is like that. It can be one good shot that turns your season around.