	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 15, 2008

Lee Westwood

SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND

MALCOLM BOOTH: Ladies and gentlemen, joined by Lee Westwood. Lee, thanks for joining us.
LEE WESTWOOD: Pleasure.
MALCOLM BOOTH: Following such a good performance in the U.S. Open last month, do you now feel better than ever to compete for a major championship?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, well, it obviously gave me a good deal of confidence, you know, the fact that I got into contention there and didn't back off, and coming down the last fairway I had a good chance. Any time you experience something like that in golf and obviously the experiences and emotions it's got to be something you can fall back on in future tournaments, so I'm hoping to do that this week.

Q. A lot was made last year of the fact that no European had won the Open until Padraig ended the drought. No one has actually won it at Royal Birkdale. Does that surprise you, and do you feel that you're well placed as a continent to end it this year?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think there's a lot of us playing well, yeah, for sure. It doesn't really surprise me. It's the Open golf championship. When you throw it out to everybody, the game of golf is strong everywhere in the world now. So no, it doesn't surprise me that there's not been a European or a Brit.

Q. Do you feel people are looking at you in a different light this week after the U.S. Open?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know, to be honest. You'd know better than me.

Q. You don't sense that at all?
LEE WESTWOOD: Not really, no. I haven't spent that much time here, though, to be honest. I got here late last evening, hit a few balls. There was virtually nobody here. I'm going to go and play this afternoon. No, it's been a fairly low-key warmup so far. I played a couple of weeks ago here, and that's the way I wanted to keep it, not get caught up in the hype too much, really.

Q. Where do you rank Birkdale among the Open courses, and what do you think are its strengths that golfers have to overcome?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think its strengths are it's incredibly fair. Most of the fairways are flat. It tests most aspects of your game. I think if you're a good driver of the ball, you can take on a few of the holes. It's obviously had some length added to it, which makes it quite a lengthy, demanding test. I can't remember the rest of your question.

Q. Where do you rank it --
LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's probably in the top three for me personally. Carnoustie is a big favourite of mine, and then here and Muirfield would be my other two favourites. Lytham very closely behind.

Q. Have you had a chance to look at the 17th green?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago. I'm assuming it's not changed since then. Nobody has dug it up.

Q. Do you think they should?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think eventual they will. I think everybody has accepted that something has gone wrong with it. It's just out of character with the rest of the golf course, and basically leave it at that. It's not to the standard of the rest of the greens. The rest of them are brilliant.

Q. Could you compare the nerves that you felt in a major to a Ryder Cup situation? What's the difference between the two feelings?
LEE WESTWOOD: At a Ryder Cup you just feel like there's more people relying on you and you're doing it for more people, whereas at a major championship you're just doing it for yourself. That's the difference in the nerves, really.
They're of a similar sort of level, though, I'd say.

Q. How does this course tailor to your game? How do you feel this course suits your game?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, as you said, it's a good driver's golf course, and I consider myself a very good driver of the golf ball.

Q. And if you had one thing to improve this week and to rely on this week to get into contention, what would it be?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think I need to putt more consistently over the whole week. I haven't really had a fantastic putting week over the four days when I've needed it. So if I can do that this week, then I feel pretty confident I'll be there or thereabouts coming into the end of the week.

Q. When you came away from the U.S. Open, did going so close boost your confidence or wreck it?
LEE WESTWOOD: It certainly didn't wreck it, but it's a fine line between letting it give you confidence and at the same time having only just missed out, don't sort of grill yourself that you have only just missed out and you could have been a major champion. It's just a balancing act with the two, obviously.

Q. We asked Sergio and Ernie this, as well. With the absence of Tiger, you're a pretty established player, does it change your mindset at all? And also, for some of the lesser experienced players, how do you think it changes the mindset around the tournament?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't really think it changes it too much. It's not something I've really thought about. I think part of professional sport is being fit. It happens in other sports, why not in golf? This is probably the first and most high-profile situation that's ever occurred. I think we should be talking about the tournament and not somebody that's not here. This is the biggest -- as far as I'm concerned, it's the biggest tournament in the world. It's bigger than any one golfer, really.

Q. Are you excited by the emergence of the young Europeans this year, Mike Oliver Wilson, Ross Fisher, and Graeme McDowell?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think the strength of European golf and the younger players coming through is incredible. I played with Larrazabal last week, as well. The way he won the French Open, these lads come out and they're pretty fearless. They've had a lot of experience getting into these situations, and they become almost natural winners straightaway.
Graeme last week -- although I didn't watch it, I heard it was a very solid performance.

Q. And Ross the week before?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, they're showing no nerves, really, which is great. They obviously feel very comfortable in the situation.

Q. And good for Europe for the Ryder Cup?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, this year and years to come. We've got a lot of good young players coming through, Martin Kaymer from Germany, and Pablo from Spain, and others from Spain, and there seems to be a lot of Frenchmen on the Tour now coming through. It's great golf has spread across the continent now. It's been predominantly British players in the Ryder Cup over the last couple of years, and this year it may change, or in the future it might change.

Q. Ernie Els talked at Loch Lomond the other day about how soft this course is this year. What difference will it make to you personally and to the tournament in general? Will it bring more players into contention, do you think?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it could do. When it is very bouncy and firm, it requires more sort of specific ball control, as in spin control, where to land it and what sort of trajectory to put on it, that you can play a little more one-dimensionally when it's as soft as this. Yeah, it'll bring more players in. The course probably plays -- I don't want to say plays easier, but probably plays a little fairer when it's very soft and probably does play a fraction easier because you don't tend to get some of the odd bounces you normally associate with links golf.

Q. If you're in contention on Sunday, you'd obviously be aware that everyone here would be willing you on. Is that something that you've sort of taken into account, that you might have to cope with that, as well?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, it's a bridge I'll cross when I get to it.

Q. But you must feel that there is a chance for you to --
LEE WESTWOOD: I think I have to accept that any Brit playing in the Open that's playing well on the last day or in contention on the last day is going to have a lot of supporters.
MALCOLM BOOTH: Lee Westwood, thanks very much for joining us.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297