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JOHNNIE WALKER CLASSIC

February 19, 2009

Lee Westwood

PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

GORDON SIMPSON: Lee welcome back The Vines, it's been a long time since you played here - 13 years in fact - but your decision to return looks a sound one?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's been a long time since I was in Australia. 2003 in fact. I played in the Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karrinyup where Goose won so it was time I came back. I've always enjoyed coming here to play golf round great course. The people are always fantastic. I get a lot of support and I'm glad to be back. I couldn't remember much of the course before I came - the last three and the first - so it was kind of like playing a new course. I think I played better than I did last time.
GORDON SIMPSON: You kept the mistakes to a minimum over a fairly tight track?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yes, I started off hitting a couple of poor shots, a couple of pulls and got away with one but I corrected the fault.. That's what I've been good at doing the last couple of years - correcting things pretty quickly and I started hitting good shots after that and I played well for the last 12 holes.

Q. When you said you corrected something out there, what was it in particular?
LEE WESTWOOD: It was just rolling the club a bit too much on the way back and getting it kind of behind me on the plane. Just corrected that and started going straight, which was the result.

Q. Was that something that you've recognised?
LEE WESTWOOD: Something that I've done for years. I've been working on something over the last couple of months and occasionally I start to do it and now I'm able to pause and recognize it. I'm educating myself about my swing all the time, and I can cure it pretty quick.

Q. How would you describe your season so far?
LEE WESTWOOD: I've only played a little bit of golf; how do you feel about your start, really.
I did a lot of gym work before the two tournaments in the Middle East, Qatar and Dubai. Not a lot on my swing; and short game and putting are quite rusty. I made both cuts but didn't really play too great. I played like I had not played a lot of golf for four weeks.
Because, you know, I'm at the age now where I have other priorities, around Christmastime I want to be with my kids and my wife at home, and there's been a lot of work, like I said, in the gym, every day. So it was no surprise to me that I came out rusty in those two tournaments.
I went home from Dubai, and fantastic, the ten days that I was at home, it snowed, and didn't go, and had like two or three inches of snow. So didn't hit a ball for 10, 12 days there and then went to Dubai for a few days to practice on the way here, to break the journey up, for one, and because I needed to hit some balls and play some golf and get ready for this week.
So I still feel rusty, but I've never played particularly well at start of the season, although it's not been bad in recent years. It's nice at the second part of the year when I get warmed up. It's quite nice to come to some of these tournaments and -- what's the word I'm looking for -- yeah, no expectations and just play with a freeness and take one shot at a time, the old clichÃ©, I suppose. Just be happy with whatever I get.

Q. You say no great expectations, but I guess the tournament may have had great expectations for you; so a matter of pride to come out here?
LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, absolutely. I'm not suggesting I wasn't trying. You know, I'm just saying that I haven't played a lot recently and sometimes it's nice to go out and play golf like that.

Q. Did you leave many shotsout there?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I left a few shots out there. I hit it pretty good but there are places where it could have been worse. I was lucky on the 12th hole, got in the bushes and had to chip out but knocked it on and 2-putt for par, and then I made a nice up-and-down on the side of the green for bogey.
You know, the two guys I played with, I felt I got what I deserved to shoot today, a round of 66.

Q. Playing with Greg, as the old guy - what did you make of his game today?
LEE WESTWOOD: That was another treat for me today really. Greg was really kind of my hero. There's a lot of people I look to as I started playing golf. We were watching clips from the Masters in '86, and Faldo was obviously winning majors. And Greg was really the person that I looked up to and wanted to be like when I was growing up. I wanted to play golf like he played golf, aggressive and with that kind of charisma.
Every time I play with Greg, it's such a treat for me, one of my heroes. It's been a while since we've played. It's been about six years, or five years since we played, and a bit of a treat. I still enjoy watching him play, and, you know, some of the short game shots he plays, the chips around the greens.

Q. And your assessment of his play today? His assessment was his putting was terrible.
LEE WESTWOOD: He looked like somebody that's not as competitive as often as he used to be, and definitely not competitive enough. He's playing sort of five, six tournaments a year, which is probably not enough, certainly not enough to get up that edge.
Certainly for me, when I'm not competitive, the first thing that goes is the putting and the making the ones from four, five feet that I used to make all the time and getting up-and-down around the greens.
The long game is still there. It's just one of those things. He's got other priorities now, I guess.
GORDON SIMPSON: When you see his level of fitness, does that make you feel, as well, that it's going to be important increasingly to keep you going in the long term?
LEE WESTWOOD: Absolutely. Greg has always been one of those people that's the fittest out here. You look at him now, he's 53 or something like that, and still in great shape. If you're in great shape, then you've got a half a chance.
GORDON SIMPSON: Looking pretty trim, yourself.
LEE WESTWOOD: I've done a lot of work and added a lot of muscle and lost quite a bit of body fat. It's good for my golf game and it makes you feel good when you've done something like that.

Q. After Greg's performance at Royal Birkdale, can you see what he's done that he could still compete to win the Masters this year?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I don't see any reason why not. You know, I don't know how he's hitting it today -- there was a couple of times he was certainly, I wouldn't say he was a short hitter. What he was doing in the 90s and 80s, it was a shorter golf course and you needed to maneuver it around the golf course, and it's a shot-maker's golf course which he's an expert at.
It's still very much a short-game player's golf course, which he's still got. It's just whether he's going to be competitive enough between now and Augusta to get sharp for the Masters.

Q. He's playing Houston before Augusta.
LEE WESTWOOD: That's probably more than he's done coming into it, so that's good preparation for him. Houston is a similar kind of golf course to Augusta.

Q. Your partner tomorrow is 3-over; do you think he'll make the cut?
LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, yeah, for sure. Today he could have shot level par easily, and just like he said, he didn't putt particularly well.

Q. And do you think that will really take the game up?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I hit it close. Obviously the one at 5 was a tap-in and it's always nice when you can walk in there and knock it in and take the pressure off yourself. I made the most of the par 5s, knocked it on the 10th in two. Knocked it on 18 in two. Played a little bit of a pitch on 3, so no pressure there, and on 9, I knocked it on in two. It was a very sort of stress-free round for me.

Q. You said you came into the event without any expectation; when you shoot well in the first round, does that raise the expectation, or are you realistic enough --
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it's good for the confidence. It won't turn in the next 24 hours, but I'm getting sharper as the week goes on.
It's a great start to get off to for me. But I've been playing well in most tournaments recently, so if I can get myself into contention come Sunday, I'll be pleased with the way the week has gone.

Q. You had a lot of seconds and thirds last year; does it phase you to think that you came that close or you should have done better?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, it says that I gave myself a lot of chances to win, and if I had done the right things a couple more times a round, I can win any tournament I play in.
GORDON SIMPSON: Well played, Lee.

End of FastScripts

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