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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 3, 2010

Lee Westwood

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

PHIL STAMBAUGH: We welcome Lee Westwood into the interview room this afternoon. Lee, thanks for joining us.
LEE WESTWOOD: Pleasure, thank you.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: I noticed you had two top threes on The European Tour, a second at the Dubai Desert Classic and a T-3 at the event in Qatar. This is your second appearance here at the Honda Classic, the last coming in 2006. A couple opening thoughts about coming back to play in this event and how your game is right now.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I haven't played a lot recently. Played the Match Play but obviously got home at the usual time, Friday lunchtime. So a little bit under-golfed but looking forward to playing this week.
Like you say, it's the second time here. First time was over the road at Mirasol. Played okay there. I think I played with Luke Donald the third round and he went on to win, so I must have been playing okay.
I've heard a lot about this golf course, some people referred it to me, and so it's nice to come and try and test it out this week. I think it's a great date now for Honda with it being the week before a World Golf Championship, and hence, they got a good field.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: We had Padraig in and he said after he lost the Match Play, he went back home and practiced; did you do the same thing?
LEE WESTWOOD: I did. I went straight on back but only practiced a little bit because of the weather. The weather has not been great at home just recently. It's been very cold, and I think it's snowed every week since about the third week in December. You're limited a bit to what you can do.

Q. For some reason if they were to cut The Ryder Cup back to Great Britain and Ireland like it was in the old days, how would you assess the chances of this crop of Englishman and Irishmen who are in the top of the world standings right now?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, that wasn't a question I was expecting, but I think obviously English, or British, and more precisely, English golf is very strong at the moment obviously. I do think that if you look at the notes from my interview at the Match Play, I did mention how strong English golf was and how it wasn't getting recognized, especially back home compared to some of the other sports that they de vote reams and reams of column inches to. And the lads go and prove me right by getting in the final, so thanks to them. I think I don't want to see it go back to Great Britain and Ireland. I think we have a lot of great players from the Continent to Europe, and so over the last whatever it is Ryder Cups since we started doing well, Seve coming on the scene and Bernhard Langer and people like that, I think they are part of the reason The Ryder Cup's kept on going and growing.

Q. When you look back though at seven or eight years ago, I think you might have been the only guy in the Top-100 from England in the World Rankings. I mean, what sort of happened to bring on this sort of renaissance?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know, I think it definitely goes in cycles. I think 2000 it was Faldo pointed out that I was the only person in the World Rankings, person in the Top-100 in the World Rankings. I was four back then. Many people were saying where is the next crop of English golfers going to come from. And ten years later we have -- I don't know how many it is, haven't counted, but I know it's very strong. But I don't know what to putt it down to. We are all from different backgrounds. We have all taken different routes to where we are. So there is obviously not really a specific way to nurture young talent. You just have to give different players as many opportunities as possible.

Q. Did you watch the all-English final?
LEE WESTWOOD: I watched a little bit of it, but I can't say I was glued to it. There was something else on TV I think that I wanted to watch.

Q. Speaking of snow, Stricker practices in the snow in Wisconsin. Do you go out and practice in the snow?
LEE WESTWOOD: If I'm desperate enough, yeah. I think Wisconsin maybe gets slightly worse weather than Worksop, but I try not to go out and practice in the snow if I can help it.

Q. Astroturf?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. I've got like a movable bay that I use, but that's only when it's windy and raining. When the weather is bad at home I tend to just work on the stuff in the gym and maybe get on a mat and do some putting. So I was trying to narrow it down as to why I don't play so good historically in the early part of the year and that's probably it, the fact that I can't do so much practicing when I'm at home. And I do play a schedule where it's in blocks, three in the desert and then two here and home for two and two.
If you look at my record in the past, I've always played well when I've been through a long run of tournaments. But I find it very difficult to do a long run of tournaments at the start of the year because of where the tournaments are, and when I'm not playing in the tournaments, I go home because of the kids and the family, and the weather is not that good to practice at home. So I never really get into a rhythm that I can carry on up until the Masters.

Q. You came close at the British and the U.S. Open in 2008 and of course last year at Turnberry, age 36, you seem more equipped all across the board, mentally, physically, to win majors; can you address that? Do you agree that you're more equipped going into the majors than ever before?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I agree with you, yeah. I'm definitely -- I definitely have less weaknesses now for sure. And I think, you know, I'm gradually fine-tuning everything. You know, like you say, I've come very close, so it's obviously reflecting in the results at the major championships that I am gradually narrowing things down and getting more comfortable at those major championships. I've always been a pretty slow learner. It takes me a little while to grasp things and get the hang of things. I think I'm gradually starting to do it now at 36.
When you look at players last year, you look at Tom in The Open Championship, nearly 60 years of age, and Kenny at the Masters. I've still got a fair bit of golf in front of me I think at the age of 36. I'm definitely playing the best golf of my career, and I think if you look at the results, it's the most consistent I've ever played. I may not be winning as much as I did back in '98, '99, 2000, but I'm certainly giving myself a lot of opportunities to do so.

Q. What do you credit that to?
LEE WESTWOOD: The consistency? I think I have a much better short game that helps with the consistency. Consistency comes from when you're not makes mistake when you miss greens and getting it up-and-down more regularly when something is not quite on song. Another part of your game bails you out and I think when my long game wasn't good, or I wasn't having a good game tee-to-green ten years ago, I didn't have the long game to bail myself out and get around in 70, 71 or even 69. Now my short game is coming up to the level of my long game.

Q. Going back to the English -- when is the last time you played -- (Inaudible.)
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, he was the best-scoring.

Q. Poulter was second at the British the year before that and you've obviously tasted it a few times. Are we looking at Faldo 20 years ago? Has it been that long?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think so. And 20 years ago we really had only sort of Nick contending in the major championships. I think Jesse, Mark James, probably came close at a couple of Open Championships, but I think on mass, we are more equipped to go mob-handed to the major championships now.

Q. Mob-handed?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, with more opportunities for more players that are capable of winning majors.

Q. Was Honda always on your schedule?
LEE WESTWOOD: I asked for an invite back in September, October time. So it's always been on my schedule to play it.

Q. What were the recommendations?
LEE WESTWOOD: The strength of the golf course more than anything. I think even further back than that, I think Chubby, that manages me, came here last year when Ernie was defending I think and Rory played and he said, "Why aren't you here? This golf course would suit you down to a tee." Even as far back as last year's event, it's been pencilled in.

Q. This has a very strong European flavor to it. Because of the strength of the top of the European field, does it feel like a European Tour event, and is it largely because of where it lies on the schedule that so many people come?
LEE WESTWOOD: It doesn't feel like a European Tour event. This it feels like the PGA TOUR. Because you don't get weather like this in Europe. It always sunny over there. (Laughter) yeah, I know, you'll come through, probably by the end of the week.
I think the date with the World Golf Championships being next week, obviously, assists the European players a lot, like I was saying earlier with my schedule, I like to play in blocks. So to have two big world-class tournaments back-to-back within an hour of each other makes a lot of sense to come and play two together. And obviously with the extra week between the Match Play and I think this followed on straight after the Match Play last year, it gives us an opportunity certainly for myself to go home for ten days' rest as I usually would after the Match Play, rather than a week, and then be able to come back here and play another couple of tournaments. I think that's the way most Europeans feel.

Q. You mentioned -- back in the U.K. --
LEE WESTWOOD: It's not a big thing for me. I'm just kidding really. Making light of it. It's not really an issue.

Q. Just wondering if you ever thought --
LEE WESTWOOD: Around The Ryder Cup and Open Championship, we get on the back page.

Q. But that's pretty much it?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, soccer takes up most, rugby and correct, and that's about it really, and little bits from other sports.

Q. You mentioned when Jeff asked you about what you said, you said you don't have so many weaknesses now, instead of saying my strengths are better. Is that how you look at it when you were going back trying to deal with whatever issues you had that you had to fix your weaknesses not focus on your strengths?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, in golf, it's not how good your good shot are. We are able capable of going out there and hitting good shots. It's how good your bad shots are. But on the similar sort of vein, it's how strong your weaknesses are more than how strong your strengths are out there. So that's the point I'm making.

Q. Do you feel your weaknesses are not at an acceptable level?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think at 4 in the world most of it is at an acceptable level but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. If I was rating different aspects of my game, my short game and bunker play would get the lowest Mark out of ten whereas if it was a 4 a two years ago, it's maybe now a 7, but there's no reason why it can't be a 9 or a 10.

Q. Do you feel like you're No. 4 in the world?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Is that a trick question? I looked at the World Rankings. It says No. 4, so I figure No. 4 in the world.

Q. Stricker believes he shouldn't be at 2 --
LEE WESTWOOD: He doesn't believe he should be at 2.

Q. At times he doesn't feel like --
LEE WESTWOOD: I think actively and looking at his records, he's the best player in the world at the moment, because obviously Tiger has not played a lot just recently. So those guys are playing at the moment. If you look at his last few results, his consistency, he's the best active player in the world.

Q. Inaudible?
LEE WESTWOOD: But you can't take Tiger out just because he's not played a lot just recently.

Q. Was there any hangover after Turnberry last year, and all of the stuff you dealt with in your career, was that maybe the toughest loss for you to have to live with in the afternoon?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, there was a little bit. We didn't feel too good until I got the first beer into me afterwards. Not long. No, it didn't take long. It hangs around with you for a week or so, but then you've got to get going again and you've got to turn things around and use the experience as a positive.
Third in a major championship is not a poor result. It's a good result. But obviously it was there for the taking and I didn't take it, so obviously I had a tinge of disappointment. But you know, you can't carry that on and let it affect the forthcoming results.
You know, the two results straight after that were ninth in the WGC and third in the PGA, so I got straight back on the horse pretty much immediately. I think I can use that as a plus going on, major championship, and learn from it next time I'm in that position.

Q. How do the major championship sites shape up for you?
LEE WESTWOOD: Good, I think. It's hard to tell with Whistling Straits really because I played that going through the slump a few years ago. It's difficult to tell. But I quite enjoyed the golf course there. But certainly I'm looking forward to Pebble. I've had a good finish there, fifth, in the other U.S. Open that Tiger -- there was two separate U.S. Opens, the one that Tiger played in and the one that the rest of us played in.
If you look at my best U.S. Open results, they have all been on the West Coast on the greens there, the poa: Torrey; Olympic sixth or seventh I think; and fifth at Pebble. So I'm looking forward to that. It's probably one of my favorite courses, in the top three.
St. Andrews, I've won around there. And if you look at my scores in the Dunhill over recent years, scoring average has been pretty low there. And Augusta is Augusta, you know, we play it every year, and you gradually get used to it.

Q. I know you've been giving your caddie a lot of credit, but seems like he's --
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, too much.

Q. When did you hook up with him?
LEE WESTWOOD: Last May time pretty much, beginning of May I think.

Q. And how has he helped you?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, he's helped me focus a lot better. Almost become a little bit more professional I think. We sat down beforehand and looked at places where I could improve and he said, look, these are your results and you're kidding yourself a little bit in certain areas and you need to work hard on this, and we worked a lot on 80 yards and in and needed to do a lot of short game work.
So he was the one that suggested going back to Pete Cowen to work on the short game. He said my bunker game was poor at best and we have done a lot of work on that and now I get up-and-down out of the traps a lot more regularly. It all snowballs and leads to lower scoring.

Q. Can that make a difference at the Masters?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it could make a difference. He loves the Masters. It's probably his favorite tournament if you ask him. I think he'll be a big asset there, bigger than other tournaments maybe.

Q. (Inaudible.).
LEE WESTWOOD: Who is fascinated?

Q. Padraig fascinating by his practicing; are you like that at all?
LEE WESTWOOD: I can't say I'm fascinated by how much I practice. It's kind of a strange statement. But he is one of the harder workers out here. If you're on the range at 6 o'clock at night, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll bump into practice or he'll be there hitting balls. He works hard. He's got a good work ethic. What can you say? There's a lot of guys out here with a good work ethic, though.

Q. Do you ever see guys come back on Saturday and Sunday on the range sometimes?
LEE WESTWOOD: If I'm playing another tournament here and got to hang around somewhere, then I'll come and practice. But if I miss the cut, I'm generally -- I generally good home. I noticed at the Match Play he was practicing on the Thursday when he had been knocked out on the Wednesday.

Q. Was there any one thing that you took out of Turnberry that you think will help you more are than anything else?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, there were a few things, but I've never been really prepared to discuss them because I think if you get into that situation, you learn something from being high up in a major and kind of blowing it, if you want to call it that. Why should you share that with anybody else that has not been in that position.

Q. You say you gradually got used to Augusta. Did you like the way they had it set up last year? There was a lot more, I don't know if fun is the right word but certainly more accessible and scorable than it has been recently?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I like the way they set it up. I think it got a little bit too difficult, and people were commenting on how there were not so many cheers and roars coming from the crowd. I'm an aggressive player by nature, anyway, so I would like to see golf courses set up to reward aggressiveness.
The Masters I recall and remember most fondly are the ones where people are making a charge around the back nine. That wasn't quite as possible some of the years. You have to understand that some years, the course is going to play difficult because of the conditions and the way the golf course is set up and other years it will play easier and you'll see aggressive play. I think what people remember from last year is Phil making a charge, Tiger playing with him, they were making a charge. They were right up in front of me and Poulter, the atmosphere was electric. We could feel it being in the group behind them. I think that's what you want to -- I think that's what you want to get out of it from a tournament at Augusta.
There are lots of little sub-plots when you watch a Masters, and it's watching somebody charge around the back nine in 30 like whatever it was when Jack won in '86 is something that you remember. I think if you were to ask me to recall my favorite Masters, it would have been Jack, and purely because he had a charge and got going and won the tournament.

Q. Did being in that atmosphere that week help you in the majors the rest of the year getting the feel of that electricity?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I got off to a decent start and then I had a horrible finish. I finished double-bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey last year at the Masters to slip from what ought to have been a Top-10 to 44th or something like that.
So I didn't immediately walk away from Augusta last year with too many pleasant thoughts. But you know I'm that kind of person that sort of picks the better things, I'm quite positive, my glass really is half-full. I have nothing but good thoughts from Augusta most years.

Q. No shrinks for you?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I have tried them, very short amounts of time. But I'm quite a sort of level-headed -- I don't know what words to use that won't offend people who use psychologists, but I've never found the need to use a psychologist. Whatever I say would offend the people that use psychologists -- (laughter) but I feel fairly normal. I've always said in the past, on record, you look at some of the psychologists and you think, oh, they need to see a psychologist or they need some help. But that's not to say that they don't do a great job with some players.

Q. The playoff last year at Augusta, Cabrera blows it in the trees and hits another shot that's probably almost as wild, hits the middle of a tree, kicks in left in the middle of the fairway and obviously hits a great couple shots after that and takes care of business after that. Can you remember after the top of your head seeing a shot turn out quite that lucky in a major in a crunch time with all of that on the line? And do players go, damn, why didn't that always happen to me?
LEE WESTWOOD: I didn't see it because I was rushing off to try to catch a flight from Atlanta airport but I was in the car. I was listening to it and I believe he had a little bit of slice of luck but you need that in any tournament you're going to win. It's just good when it happens at the right time like that.
But the key to that is when he's had his slice of luck, he's made the most of it by getting up-and-down and holing a 6-footer. That's the thing that you notice more than anything from that.

Q. In one of the answers you mentioned that it was during your slump when you were playing Whistling Straits. Not many guys say that they are ever in a slump yet you say you don't need a psychologist. So how did you figure your way out of that?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I don't really know to be honest. Just analyzing everything and just picking out things I was doing wrong, and then you almost have to fool yourself and your brain, kid yourself all the time, but in a positive way to try and turn it all around.
It's interesting, somebody mentioned Steve Stricker earlier on and he got to 2 in the world, well, he went through a similar slump, as well. They were almost the same -- ours were almost at the same time and to the same depth in the World Rankings and back to the same place, and we have talked about it, myself and Steve on the golf course when we've played together. He said, when did you get -- how did he and when did he sort of snap out of his and when did I, and we never really sort of have been able to completely put a finger on it.
I think what both of us agree on is that you have to sort of hit rock bottom and get it all clear and figured out in your own mind before you start again. There can't be kind of any room for any other issues in there, and also, sometimes you try and take too many people's opinions; whereas, you really just need to focus on one path and go down that path, even if it's slightly goes wrong at times, you have to commit to it and go for it down that path.
I think part of the turnaround for me was going and seeing David Leadbetter, because I kind of flittered around with coaches and never really 100 percent committed to one coach. But I sort of boxed it all off and got going again with David and he took me right back to basics, standing to the ball correctly and gripping it correctly and that was really the turning point for me.

Q. When you're at rock bottom like that, are there any expectations when you get on the first tee?
LEE WESTWOOD: Very difficult to have expectations. I got to a point where I didn't really know where to aim, which is not a great sort of -- because I was missing left and missing right. I mean, couldn't even block one side of the golf course out. So that's when it becomes mentally frustrating, when you can't have any expectations and your expectations are only negatives.

Q. 2002 you started with Leadbetter?
LEE WESTWOOD: I can't really remember, those years blend into each other a bit for me. I would say, yeah, probably 2002, 2003, because I think I won in Germany and the Dunhill in 2003. Or '04, was it? I don't know.
But like I say, that part of my career, I kind of really don't look back on. I've learnt things from it but the rest of it, I've kind of just washed away.

Q. The '04 Ryder Cup, were you --
LEE WESTWOOD: I was picked for -

Q. Oakland Hills, maybe a controversial pick --
LEE WESTWOOD: Maybe a little bit. Thomas BjÃ¶rn found it controversial. (Laughter) he finds a lot of things controversial.

Q. Going undefeated at that Ryder Cup, did that help get you out?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it was nice to prove myself and prove the pick. When you get picked for something, you're already under a lot of pressure to try and perform. And then people question the fact that you've been picked, so it puts more pressure on the fact that you've been picked. So it's nice to come out there and justify why you were there and also justify your captain's faith in you.
It's never a nice situation. It's nicer to play your way into something like that, an I-deserve-to-be-here kind of thing.

Q. Talking about your experience and Stricker's experience of going to the bottom and coming back to the top, knowing what David Duval is capable of when he plays his best golf and what he did when he was No. 1 in the world, would you be at all surprised seeing this renaissance of his career come back to being a highly-ranked player in the world?
LEE WESTWOOD: I wouldn't be surprised at all. You know, you play with David and he's obviously phenomenally talented. He doesn't do things quite as orthodox as a lot of people but what is orthodox in golf? But it would not surprise me at all. I would love to see him come back.
I've spoken to David at times about these slumps we keep going through. And one of the things is with David, I think the U.S. Tour really misses like a David Duval character over the last sort of eight -- is it seven or eight years, I think that the tour has really missed David, his personality and the way he's played the game. When you go back and look at his 59 at the Hope and the way he won at Lytham and getting into -- he was in contention a lot in the major championships, and the Masters he could quite easily have won. You don't want those kind of players dropping out of the game because of slumps. You want to see him coming back and playing well. That's why it was good to see him play well at The Open last year and Pebble a few weeks ago.

Q. He was second or third four or five straight Masters.
LEE WESTWOOD: He was No. 1 in the world.

Q. Would you be at all surprised -- he's back for the first time since 2006 this year, considering what he did at Bethpage last year and how he played at Pebble a couple of weeks ago, do you see him being a guy that can contend to win that tournament?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, you're never quite sure which David Duval is going to turn up, are you? So I don't think he is. But when he does turn up, when the world-class David Duval, the golfer turns up, he's good enough to win any tournament and he's proved that.

Q. Did you talk to Poulter at all -- he was a bit controversial in the pick that Nick made, did you talk with him about it at all when he was on the team?
LEE WESTWOOD: I probably did a little bit, but I can't remember what I said to him. You know, I wouldn't think Ian would let something like that bother him. I think he would sort of stand there and think, well, I deserve that pick, and he proved it at the Match Play, he's that kind of player. You wouldn't want to play him. I think I picked him out of the start of the week that he was one guy you wouldn't want to play in The Match Play. He proved me right.

Q. Before the slump when you were playing well, once you went through the slump and came back and started winning again; and you get in those situations, was it like riding a bike for you, because you had done it before.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, the old feelings and the old juices start to flow again, that's for sure. You get into the position to win -- I think it was at the BMW in Germany I won for the first time coming back, and I shot 30 around the back nine, but I was in contention with about five or six holes to go and I thought, right, finish off well, and I birdied the last three holes. That's the sort of thing that happens when you're a regular winner and you're used to crossing the finish line.
I think winning is definitely a habit is some people have it and can get into it, and other people find it very difficult and I think that's what separates the guys that are more prolific winners that win 30 tournaments to the guys that win five or six. It's that comfort and knowing what to do and knowing when to push, mowing when to back off and let everybody else make mistakes.
That's what Tiger has always been great at. I think, you know, if you analyze a lot of players like Jack and Arnold and Tiger and people like that, they won more tournaments because of other people making mistakes than being aggressive and going out there and blitzing it.
PHIL STAMBAUGH: Good luck the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts

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