THE 150TH OPEN

July 17, 2022

Lee Westwood

Mixed Zone

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it was good. I played all right. Just made too many mistakes. You can't afford to make bogeys and going bonkers.

Third round, I didn't -- I didn't play smart enough. I didn't get it in the right places to putt well. I was putting from the wrong places all the time, and I had four three-putts and a four-putt. You just can't fritter away shots like that, especially when people are tearing it up.

Today I just started pulling. Went in a divot on the first. Second shot, just ballooned up a bit and spun back in the burn. Bogeyed the second, got a flier. Then played well.

Little bit unfortunate on 17. Drive just run through some of the thickest stuff just off the edge and didn't have any control on the second shot, and it just came out a bit left on me. It went in the trap over the face. Those things happen in links golf, especially when you're not in contention.

Q. Did you try and soak as much of St Andrews that as you could? The reason I ask that is Ian Poulter came in yesterday and said I don't know if I'll be back here because it could be eight years or so. Were you a bit like that today? Just trying to take an extra look in there.

LEE WESTWOOD: I've been trying to soak it all in for the last six, seven years. I'm 50 next April. All these major championships and big events are a bonus really when you get to my age.

Q. Do you think you'll play another Open, Lee?

LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know. It's a big enough tournament that I would try and qualify for, sure.

Q. It's eight years since Rory has won a major. Are you rooting for him today?

LEE WESTWOOD: I'm not particularly rooting for anybody. Viktor's obviously got a very good chance as well. So I don't really pick favourites. I just don't.

It's a good battle. It could turn into a two-horse race, and they could both shoot really good low scores and it will be exciting like Phil and Henrik at Troon, or they could just stalemate each other and bring everybody else into it, which would be exciting as well watching somebody chase from behind.

Q. You've had a long career obviously. Would playing in Opens here be amongst the highlights, just whenever you got the chance to do it?

LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, they're very special. Obviously it's the home of golf. I played six here, and I've learned to appreciate the golf course over a period of time. I didn't fall in love with it first time, but I learned over time to see its little idiosyncrasies and the charm to it.

Yeah, I think anybody that comes to St Andrews looks forward to playing the golf course.

Q. You can still get round here at 57 years old, could you not, 2030?

LEE WESTWOOD: Keep myself fit, keep in the gym. It's the enthusiasm to go and workout and stay at this level that kind of leaves you, I think, more than anything. And also bodies start breaking down when you're starting to get towards 30 years playing professional golf. It's hips and knees and shoulders and backs weren't supposed to do the movement that we do all the time.

You know, it's just a wait-and-see kind of thing and take every day as it comes.

Q. Any kind of misty-eyed feeling coming up the 18th fairway? That's not really a thing?

LEE WESTWOOD: It's not really my thing. Misty-eyed, leaving it short right in the middle for two on the last, especially after making 6 at 17. But no, not really.

Q. Lee, how did you reflect on the week? Obviously there's been the big kind of narrative around you, but at the same time you're trying to get a job done on the course. Is there a part of you that's sort of quite happy to shut the door and forget about the things that get said?

LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's a shame we're not focusing on, well, to me, the biggest event of the year. The Open Championship deserves to be centre stage this week and St Andrews.