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SHELL HOUSTON OPEN

April 2, 2009

Lee Westwood

HUMBLE, TEXAS

DOUG MILNE: Lee Westwood, thanks for joining us for a few minutes here, not quite the completion of the first round here at the Shell Houston Open. Rain this morning, wind this afternoon, but it obviously isn't adversely impacting you. You're off to a great start. Kind of a couple general thoughts about your game as you're heading into the week.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I like Texas. It reminds me a lot of home. I thought about that this morning. But I just had a couple of weeks off, been down in Dubai there, and was predominantly on holiday, but got a chance to do a little bit of work with Claude Harmon. Felt like I was just struggling a little bit in Miami.
I needed a couple of things cleared up, and he helped me with a couple of things, gave me a couple of ideas and came out this week and hit the ball very well. You know, feel like I've got a little more penetration, which obviously helps in the wind, lot more width.
I've got a pretty good idea on the greens these first nine holes, if I can keep that going.
DOUG MILNE: We'll go ahead and open it it up for questions.

Q. Did the wind bother you or start to bother you? At what point in the round did you sense something might happen?
LEE WESTWOOD: Going down the 5th, I stood over a wedge, second shot into the 5th, and it really just picked up at that moment. It went from very playable to gusting to about felt like sort of 40, 45 miles an hour. So I had to back off a few shots out there, and I had to think about it, play a few knockdown shots. The only thing that really was, you know, halted play and felt unplayable was the greens.
Obviously, it's unfortunate, because to try and get a good field and prepare some of the guys for next week's tournament at August, they prepared this course very much like next week might be, and that's been the problem, really, the pace of the greens.

They've gotten to what feels like to 13, 14, on the stimp. Once the wind started blowing that much, you couldn't have the ball stand still. I didn't have any movement, oscillating, and a couple of times didn't ground the putter, just to be on the safe side.

Q. Lee, tour officials told us this is very rare. How weird is this for you as a golfer?
LEE WESTWOOD: You don't often get weather delays without a cloud in the sky, that's for sure. Twice in one day for different reasons. This morning, thunder and lightning. This afternoon the wind, which you don't expect. Occasionally happens. I remember it happening a couple times in Europe. You might be able to remember where it was, but Spain, maybe once. Carnton House, once at the Oxford. Just how the weather is at home. You don't expect it here. It does get windy in Texas.

Q. So we're going to call you the leader. I guess it's kind of hollow, not much to it yet?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't mind being the leader. I won't knock it back.

Q. Does it bother you that you're playing as well as you were and this happens?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. You can only contend with and find a solution to the problems that are right there in front of you. You only play as good as what's there in front of you, basically.
So, you know, just try to do the best job I could this morning and just played well and hit a lot of good shots and made a couple of nice putts.

Q. Do you traditionally play well in the wind?
LEE WESTWOOD: I've won tournaments in the winds. Depends very much on how you're hitting ball that week. I would say I've had a lot of experience playing in strong winds, playing around the world a lot, in Europe a lot.

Q. Do you think it's going to bother guys that the first round -- few guys that have gotten as far as they have in Round 1, and you got The Masters next week, what problems could that could create?
LEE WESTWOOD: It may. The Houston Open is a big enough tournament in its own right to make people focus on this week and the job at hand at the moment, rather than thinking about the week to come. I know it's a major Championship next week, but Shell is a great sponsor and it's a big tournament, and I think all the players will be showing respect to this tournament, giving this tournament a hundred percent of their attention.
So, you know, like I just said before, all you can do is contend with and try to find a solution to what's happening this week and do your best this week.

Q. Did you make a long putt on 9?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. I rolled one down the slope from about 45 feet there, which was a good one. Didn't birdie either of the par-5s on the front-9. I was just short of the green on two, both, and didn't get up and down. Missed a good chance on 6 as well. It was nice to hole the one on 9. It felt like a bit of justice for the ones I missed.

Q. A lot of players are kind of saying what they like. What have you thought so far of what you've seen?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's fantastic. As close to Augusta as you're going to get the week before, and the greens are, I would say, probably the best I've putted on for sometime.

Q. What was the mindset if you play 27 tomorrow and some --
LEE WESTWOOD: I'm not going to play 27 tomorrow.

Q. What have they decided specifically?
LEE WESTWOOD: We're coming back in the morning at 8:00. Hopefully one putt and eight holes to play. And then I would doubt I'll get my second round started until Saturday. So, you know, two short days. And with jet lag, only getting in on Monday night, and I've been getting up at 5:00 in the morning anyway. So it's just right for 8:00 restart.

Q. What do you have to do to keep your momentum because of the interruption of play?
LEE WESTWOOD: Don't really think about it. You know, the momentum has already been halted really by coming in. At the same time, you know, just go out and try to play like I played today. Played great on Tuesday, great on Wednesday and great today. So don't have any reason why I can't keep working on the things I'm working on.

Q. Can you paint us a picture of what it was like with the wind from the golfer's point of view? Was there any point where you said -- you know, or something you saw a ball that rolled away from you?
LEE WESTWOOD: It didn't happen to us. Going up the 7th, the flag on 7 was on quite a high point and 8 was on quite a high point. I was playing -- I said to Alex it wouldn't take much more wind for this to become unplayable. Sure enough, two holes later somebody got to an exposed area, I think it was the 17th green. The balls moved and play has to be halted.

Q. Were you surprised at all that they called it now as opposed to waiting a little longer?
LEE WESTWOOD: Once the ball moves, that's it.

Q. I mean, when they called it for the day? In other words, they didn't wait a little while longer or in keeping with the way they do things?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, they're very good over here, very professional, the rules, officials. Most accurate weather forecast of anyone. I imagine they'll know what's coming. Not a lot is going to change in the next couple of hours. The greens aren't going to grow and slow down. The wind is not going to drop apparently, so I would think they made the right decision, seems like they have. Everybody is pleased to be going home now rather than -- the players don't want to sit around all day and come out for an hour tonight. Seems sensible to restart tomorrow morning.

Q. What advice do you have for the younger players coming from the amateur into the professional? What advice would you give them as to how they should conduct themselves and what type of general routine that they should develop as professional players?
LEE WESTWOOD: Just to enjoy it, really. I've always said that I never -- I could never really pinpoint a moment when, you know, it went from being a hobby to being a job. Obviously it went to turning professional and then you start playing for money.

But, you know, every time I go out, I'll play in a different tournament, it seems like a new adventure for that week. And, you know, for me because I enjoy playing golf, I'm doing the best job in the world to go out and play golf on some of the best courses in the world and generally some of the best conditions, mainly sunshine, and get paid for it.
So, you know, what is there not to enjoy about that for anybody coming into the game? Just remember that, especially in the current economic climate we're in with people losing their jobs. It's a very fortunate position to be in. Then you just got to work very, very hard to maintain that because, you know, the standard is very high out here. And certainly for me now 36 in nearly a month, you see these young guys coming out, and you have to really stay on top of your game to be able to compete with everybody.

Q. How long was that putt on ten?
LEE WESTWOOD: About 15 feet straight uphill so I stood over it.

Q. Ready to hit it?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Given the option -- the guy came over, it's unplayable. You can either putt this putt and finish out the hole or come back in the morning. So I can putt it now while it's unplayable, I can come back in the morning when there's no winds in the greens? Let me think about that (laughter).

Q. You said you holed a few nice putts obviously today. Can you look ahead a week and talk about the greens next week? Is putting very much more important in a tournament like The Masters than it is say in an ordinary event?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't think anybody's ever putted poorly and won August, that's for sure. It's nice for me personally to get on some greens where they're really fast and seem to putt on greens, you know, that are quick, better than the ones that are slow where I have to make a bigger stroke.
And certainly when the greens are like this week or like next week, you have to use your imagination a lot more. These aren't just a case of one blow outside right. Sometimes it can be 15 feet and you have to get the right pace and the right line for that individual putt. If you get one of them wrong, it would make you look foolish. The imagination on the greens.
It's nice to be on quick greens.

Q. Have you got confidence going to the greens in Augusta?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. I mean, certainly after the front-9 today, you know, I proved I can hole some decent putts. When you got greens as fast as this, it's very much about visualization and using your imagination.
DOUG MILNE: Alright. Lee, thanks for coming in and taking a few minutes with us.

End of FastScripts

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