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CHEVRON WORLD CHALLENGEDecember 1, 2009Lee WestwoodTHOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA DOUG MILNE: We'd like to welcome Lee Westwood to the interview room here at the Chevron Challenge. Thanks for joining us for a few minutes. Of the eight events you teed it up on the PGA TOUR this year, I guess it was three Top 10s and they all kind of came right towards the ends of the season, and then obviously the Dubai, congratulations there. If you could just talk a little bit about the last part of your season, what really kind of kicked in and connected for you. And then I think you were quoted after you won Dubai, you teared up and said this was pretty much the most special moment of your career. If you could just elaborate on that a little bit, as well. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, start with the year, really. I've had obviously a very good year, winning the Money List in Europe. I didn't start off that quickly, although over here I felt like I played well in Houston and I felt like I played well at The Masters. I finished just about as dodgy as you can finish at Augusta in April with double bogey, double bogey, double bogey, bogey finish, dropped seven shots in the last four holes there so really going from looking like maybe a Top 10 to nowhere. And I played well at Houston the week before that. But after that, at the U.S. Open I played okay. Got it together the week of France, which was June, just after the U.S. Open, finished second there to Martin Kaymer, lost in a playoff, and really kicked on from that, Top 10 nearly every week other than the Omega in Switzerland and UBS in Hong Kong. I was Top 10 every week. Then I got my head together and managed to win two towards the end of the year in Portugal and obviously the one in Dubai, which was very under the spotlight, really, and meant so much. And like you said, I won the Money List in 2000, which was the most special thing I had done in my career, I guess, my career highlight, and then really fell off the golfing map a little bit with a little bit of a slump. To come back from that, not only get my form back and win more tournaments after going through that but to have the pinnacle of winning the Money List this year, almost sort of comes full circle. In 2000 I won the Money List, and I had never really had any downside to my career, so it had always just been a steady progression to winning the Money List. And then I've obviously experienced a lot more since then, and that's why I think this Money List win and the Race to Dubai makes it more special. DOUG MILNE: We'll open it up for a few questions. Q. Are you disappointed that you can't go head-to-head against Tiger this weekend at his tournament? I know that's something players like to do, especially since he wasn't here last year, as well. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I wasn't here last year, so I can't comment on that. But obviously I think there will be a lot of disappointed people this week, the sponsors. I think with Tiger's foundation being closely connected to this event, as well. I think Tiger himself will be disappointed he's not here this week. I'm sure he'd like to be supporting the event. Any event with Tiger Woods in the field is -- everybody obviously looks at it as wanting to win. It means that little bit more when he's playing. But what can you do? You can only play against the field that is put in front of you. Tournament wins are very hard to come by now no matter who's playing, so to win this week would still be very, very special. Q. I understand you're playing this week with 2009 grooves. Have you experimented with the new grooves, and what have you seen with them? LEE WESTWOOD: I have experimented with the new grooves, and to be perfectly honest, I saw a little bit of difference but not a significant difference. I think Ping golf clubs are very, very close to the edge of being legal for next year anyway. I've used -- I went and tested, and I've used my wedges for three or four months now, and I actually imparted more spin with the new wedges, with the new grooves, than I did with the grooves from this year that I've used for three or four months. Q. What about out of the rough? LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't tested them out of the rough, but I tend not to go in there. (Laughter.) Obviously I think they're going to make a little bit more difference out of the rough, and that's what they're trying to get at. That's the angle that they're coming from. I think the best players in the world will still be the best players in the world. The guys with the best short game will still be the guys with the best short game. Q. What's your reaction to the news about the Tiger and the events that have happened the last few days, and are you surprised he's found himself in a situation that's prevented him from coming to this tournament? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it's very difficult for me to comment because I only know what you know basically, probably less than what you know. I was shocked when I heard it was a serious accident on, whenever it was, Friday night, and then relieved to hear that he had been released from hospital. Other than that, the rest is speculation and people putting their own assumptions to things. I have no time for all that, and I don't want to be part of it. From that point onwards, I'm pleased that he's not seriously injured, and after that, no comment. Q. When you look back on your 2009 season, what do you think you learnt more from, your third place finish at Turnberry or your great finish and your second European Tour Order of Merit crown? LEE WESTWOOD: I think what I learnt from Turnberry enabled me to win in Dubai and win the Money List. It was a big learning curve with Turnberry. I don't think I've ever been as disappointed having played well walking off a golf course as I was in Scotland in July. But rather than sort of take it as a negative, the fact that I didn't win the Open Championship, I tried to roll it into a positive. Of course, I wasn't happy for a couple of days thinking of what could have been, but after the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, that was a tournament I felt like I should have won. I took positives from finishing third at Turnberry and leading for a long time and getting into a position where I could win a major. I realized what I did wrong down the last few holes there and tried not to do it in Dubai under a similar sort of pressure. I know winning a major is probably the pinnacle of everybody's career, but there was still a lot of pressure on Dubai and trying to win the Money List because it's over here and it means so much to all the players. I managed to implement those things that I had learnt in Turnberry a couple weeks ago and got it right, and got it right in dramatic fashion winning by six in an event like that when you're under that kind of pressure. It obviously gives you a lot of confidence and means a lot. Hopefully I can take the positives from Dubai the next time I'm in a position to win a major championship. Q. I wonder if you could speak to how you see golf shaping up over the next couple of years from more of a global nature, and the point I would make is for years everyone used that incredible stab from Tiger of never losing a tournament, leading by more than one shot or whatever, and what got overlooked was Deutsche Bank that one year when you came from two back to beat him. Did you ever feel put off that no one would remember that, and do you think we'll reach a stage here in a couple of years where more tournaments a year are factored into someone's record? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I remember the Deutsche Bank, which is the most important thing if ever I'm in that situation again. I think the game of golf globally is very strong. I think it's becoming more of a global sport viewed from this side of the Atlantic, with the likes of the event in China just recently being recognized by the TOUR over here and so forth and rumors about events elsewhere next year. They're obviously only rumors. You only have to look at the World Rankings to see what a global game golf is right now. We have a lot of strong young players from all over the globe. With the Race to Dubai we had Irishmen, South Africans, Americans -- well, not actually Americans because Anthony pulled out -- Colombians, Argentinians. It's a global game now, and I think that's what makes golf so appealing to sponsors and maybe why it's not been hit so dramatically in the recent economic turndown. We're very fortunate to be playing a game that's going along quite strongly, I think. Q. After having such a great year coming so close in the majors, do you imagine that sometime during the off-season that you'll sit down and sort of think through or have a meeting and come up with how to get over that hump at the major championships, or have you ever had one of those? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think about it all the time, obviously. I thought about it after Torrey Pines and I thought about it after the Open, and I thought about it after the PGA, although the PGA wasn't quite the same. It was more of a hanging around third rather than a disappointing third. I gradually think I'm figuring it out and what to do at the right time. I think I proved that a couple of weeks ago, that I'm gradually learning under the most demanding tests, and the next time I get a chance, hopefully I'll remember the experiences of Dubai a couple of weeks ago and remember the experiences of Turnberry. I think the more you put yourself in those positions, the better it is obviously and the more rounded a player you become under pressure. Q. What's surprised you most, a South Korean winning the final major of the year, or Italy winning the World Cup of Golf? LEE WESTWOOD: Neither really surprised me. I played with -- actually I haven't played with one of the Italians, but they were both on form that week, so that didn't surprise me at all. I always get them, mixed up. Francisco is the one, I think, that plays on Tour regularly at the moment, and he's had a fantastic year. He's a very consistent player. I beat him in Portugal, but he's very straight and he hits a lot of greens in regulation, and he's had a fantastic year in the bigger events this year, the major championships, he's got himself in there. His brother is obviously a great talent. He's pretty much walked the Challenge Tour in Europe in year and then backed it up with a win in the Dunlop Phoenix, which is no easy tournament to win. The Japanese players are very good on their own patch, and that's a very difficult golf course to win at, as well. It's tight and the greens get really fast. So to see them play well together, they're obviously very comfortable playing together, they must have done it quite a lot, and it came as no disappointment. They can obviously both compete under pressure and handle the pressure well, and it's not surprising at all. Yang winning the PGA was -- I think people highlighted it because he was going against Tiger the last round, but if you cast your mind back to when he won the Honda, that was probably one of the toughest -- I haven't played it, but people say it's one of the toughest finishing stretches in golf on certainly on the PGA TOUR during the year, and he hit some great shots coming down the stretch. I would imagine he hit it right where he wanted to all the way in. That's the quality of golfer he is. He's a very strong player. It just proves the strength and depth of golf at the moment, I think. Q. I don't know if you saw reports in England today about the problems in Dubai; apparently some of the costs of the tournament in the Dubai World Championship haven't been paid by the people in Dubai. Do you know anything about that? I'm assuming you got your winner's check. LEE WESTWOOD: You assume correctly. (Laughter.) No, I haven't, so I can't really comment, but I know everybody is struggling. It's just an unfortunate period we're going through, I think, and it seems to be highlighted in Dubai where so many people have got so much money invested there. Q. Where are you taking up membership next year? LEE WESTWOOD: I've been a member here in the past. I just find 15 events too much to do. The only reason for me joining the TOUR over here to be to play in the FedExCup events, and they're held during my kids' summer holidays, and I like to be at home and be with them when they've got time off and take them on holiday. . That's the reason why I don't join the TOUR over here. I like playing it. There's lots of big events, and when I watched the FedExCup events, I think it would be nice to be there. But at some point you have to have priorities, and mine are with my kids and wife. But I still enjoy playing in the bigger events over here, the major championships and the World Golf Championships. I play Houston before The Masters, which is a great buildup to that. I'm going to come over and play Wachovia and THE PLAYERS next year, which are two massive events which I've played in the past. Q. Are you doing anything before the Match Play? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I'm going to play the three in the desert in Dubai, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. I have a full international schedule. I can't quite fit it all in. Q. Did you happen to hear Adam Scott's comments about that? I'd be curious to hear your reaction to it because one of the things he was saying is to play both Tours, he's spotting Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy ten starts and he's spotting Vijay and Phil Mickelson eight starts over here, and how can you possibly expect to contend. Do you think now with the depth that it's impossible to succeed on both Tours without giving something up? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think it's very, very difficult. I think it's made slightly more difficult with the events that count on both Tours, the major championships and the World Golf Championships. But with the strength and depth and the quality of players on both Tours I think it's very difficult to spread yourself that thin and have reasonable expectations to win Money Lists and finish high up on Money Lists. That's why I just play one. You have to make the choice somewhere along the line, I think. DOUG MILNE: Lee Westwood, we appreciate your time. Best of luck this week. LEE WESTWOOD: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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