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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 17, 2009Lee WestwoodTURNBERRY, SCOTLAND LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it was good. You know, 2-under par is in a good position. So I'm looking forward to the weekend. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, well, I watched the golf on TV this morning and I knew how demanding it was. I was seeing guys 9-over through 12 holes and so, you know, I knew it was playing tough. And fortunately I played a couple of weeks ago in a similar wind to this. I came the Tuesday of Loch Lomond. I hit 3-wood into one of the par-3s on the front nine that day. I had a fair idea how the golf course was going to play if the wind turned round, and some of the guys may not have had that advantage. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it felt like that on the front nine, yeah. It was very much a case of just keep trying to grind the pars out, you're probably going to make the odd bogey here and there. And on the back nine there's a few holes downwind and you try to pick up a couple of shots there somewhere. But I didn't squander too many shots out there. I could have birdied the par-5 on the front nine quite easily, but that was really the only place where I could have picked up a shot on the front nine. And on the back nine I played solidly and gave myself a few chances and birdied 15 and 17. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Well, you don't often see him play shots like that, some of the shots he played. But everybody is entitled to a bad day every now and again. It happens to all of us. It's difficult out there. I think 9 and 10 are two of the toughest tee shots we've had to hit in quite some time, and 11, too. And if you're not quite on your game, things like that can happen. This is a very demanding golf course, a tough test. Q. What's the game plan for tomorrow? LEE WESTWOOD: Just to keep playing the patient golf like I'm playing. I've got myself into a good position. It would seem a shame to ruin it now. I thought the flags were very tough today, very difficult to attack. It was very much a day for patience and grinding out the pars and not missing them on the wrong side and picking up the odd shot whenever you could, and I knew 70 at the end of the day and 2-under wasn't going to be too far out of position, really. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: No, I mean, like I say, everybody's entitled to a bad day. It was tough conditions out there and the wind can play havoc with your swing sometimes. And he just hit a couple of poor shots at the wrong time, unfortunately. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: No, I just looked to the leaderboard and saw that 5-under was leading and thought I'm in a good position at 2-under. I didn't really note who the names were because the names are obviously up there at 5-under already, so they're quite capable of leading the golf tournament and you could see them even winning the golf tournament. So it's just a case of trying to get Westwood above the rest of the names on the leaderboard. It doesn't really matter who they are. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, that was a bit unfortunate. I thought it was just going to drop in, but it went the other way. But if somebody had offered me 70 at the start of the day, I would have taken it. But it would have been nice to shoot 69 with a birdie at the last. All in all, I was pretty pleased with the way things went. Q. Are you enjoying this? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, yeah, I'm calm and happy and mentally in a really good place at the moment and enjoying golf and feeling like I'm in control, just looking forward to playing every day. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Generally when you're playing well it's easier to slip into that mind frame. And you know I've had to come off a couple of good results and my confidence is high. Q. How is your experience maybe an advantage for you this week? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, my experience and my caddie's experience, you know, he was saying this is a sucker flag, don't go for this, and we clubbed well off the tees. All of a sudden 3-iron was starting to go 290 yards downwind, and it obviously helps having played a lot of major championship golf and more specifically links golf when conditions get like this. Q. Did you enjoy the course in these conditions? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it's another challenge. It's another challenge that -- the golf course had no wind yesterday, had completely opposite wind in practise, and the wind switched around 180 degrees today. That's one of the idiosyncrasies of links golf and one of its challenges, I think. Q. How many rounds have you played here in the past? LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't played here that much. I played here once eight years ago, just a fun game. And then I came for a practise round the Tuesday of Loch Lomond. And then I played 18 holes on Tuesday and Wednesday, so four rounds before the tournament. But it was one of the kind of golf courses that you could pretty much turn up and play straight off, and, you know, there's not too many hidden dangers lurking out there. It's a very well-designed golf course that rewards good golf, and you can just play it straight off. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: Well, Tiger's not missed yet. You know, don't jump to any conclusions. And Tom's performance is fantastic, but it just shows you how much keeping yourself in shape and how much having played a lot of links golf can help you. And it shows you what a good golf course this is, because it's not a bomber's golf course where you can, you know, hit 360-yard drives and beat it to bits. It's very much a position golf course, and it's almost like a game of chess out there. Q. (Inaudible.) LEE WESTWOOD: The galleries were massive inside the ropes with our group. (Laughter.) You're right, I didn't notice. Q. Do you think it's worth the tradeoff to come here to Turnberry where it's a little bit isolated? LEE WESTWOOD: I think the current economic climate does Turnberry no favors. I think it's a fantastic links golf course, and it would be a shame if it wasn't on The Open rota. It's great to see it back. End of FastScripts |
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