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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

May 6, 2010

Lee Westwood

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

Q. Lee, this is a course you've liked historically through the years.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've played well here in the past. It was '98-'99 I had a couple of sixth place finishes. It was high up there when Fred Funk won. Not a bad round, but certainly in the leading group going into the third round.
So, it's a course that suits my eye. It's changed a lot since it was played in March. You know, it plays completely different with the Bermudagrass. I didn't play it last year, but the year before I missed the cut. But I wasn't playing particularly well at that time, and this time I feel like I'm playing just a little bit better.

Q. Can you talk about 16, what happened on 16?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I hit a good driver into the middle of the fairway. It was a tough shot today. Finished between clubs. It was either a 5-wood bringing the back water into play or a 3-iron bringing the front water into play. Just came out for a little bit and paid the price.
But there is no point in focusing on the only thing that went wrong in the round, just my focus is on the rest of the stuff.

Q. I was just wondering what happened there. Obviously you finished great. It was just one little blip in a pretty good day?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, a nice bit of tee shot for the last. We found a divot, and then from 196 or something like that, I hit a 7-iron out of the divot to three feet. So that was a nice way to finish off to get to 5-under par.

Q. Are you waking up every morning, running to the golf course?
LEE WESTWOOD: Not quite running, no. Takes me a long time to get moving in the morning, no (laughing).

Q. You've been playing such great golf over the last three years.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've played a lot of bad golf, you know. It's been well documented. A lot of good golf, a lot of bad golf. It's no fun doing something you love and doing it poorly. So when you do something well, you enjoy it.
I love coming out to the golf course, I look forward to practicing and things are going well.

Q. Your Ryder Cup partner Sergio Garcia has seen some ups and downs. He hasn't won in two years. Any thoughts on his game? I know you're all worried about your own things out here. Is it kind of the circle of golf, basically, you go up, you go down?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't analyze other people's games. There are far too many people with opinions. That's the unfortunate thing about opinions sometimes, everybody's got one, so I don't volunteer mine too much.
But anybody with class, class is permanent and form is temporary. He's got a lot of class, and he's just short of a bit of confidence at the moment. But two years ago you saw him win this tournament, and I'm sure that Sergio Garcia is not far away given a few good rounds under his belt.

Q. He shot a 69 today.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, there you go.

Q. Are you just kind of riding it? Do you feel like you're kind of riding along a little bit with the good play? Not that it comes easy, but, you know, you don't worry at all? You just warm up and go out and play?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't worry at all. I'm too old to worry. Let the 21 and 22-year-old I played with today worry. I just, like I said earlier on, I enjoy playing golf and want to play it well. I look forward to going out there and seeing what happens, very little gets to me out on the golf course.

Q. Was it easy after the Masters or was it hard?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's like anything, when you don't quite come through with something that means so much to you, it's obviously a big disappointment. Obviously, my best finish in the major, I didn't feel like I gave it away. You can't let that disappointment linger for too long. You've got to try to feed off the positives.

Q. Are you better prepared now than you were when you were a young hot-shot? Physically you're in great shape. You're turning in great scores. You're playing the best golf of your life right now.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I feel like there are very few weaknesses in my game. I've got a great coach, a great physical trainer, and a fantastic caddie, so I enjoy being in the office.

Q. Was it interesting playing with the young guys today?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, yeah, it was. It's interesting what they talk about. I can't remember some of the stuff they talk about.

Q. You just kind of went --
LEE WESTWOOD: He's 15, 16 years younger than me. It's a different generation out here now. I come off the golf course aching just trying to keep up with them. You know, they've got long, bright futures in front of them.

Q. You took them to school today.
LEE WESTWOOD: I didn't say I wasn't going to beat them. I just said they've got long, bright futures in front of them. They're both good players. You can see that.

Q. Do you feel like you solidified your round out there today?
LEE WESTWOOD: I got off to a good start. Until 16 I hadn't made a bogey, so I hit it pretty good. I hit close a lot.

Q. Did you have ups and downs?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. It was pretty solid stuff the type of golf I've been playing. Really didn't need to get up-and-down too much. Made a couple of nice four-footers when I needed to, but it was just fairly stressless out there. Not much stress to it.

Q. I didn't mean to bring up the Masters.
LEE WESTWOOD: It's all right. It's the second to last time I played, so you're all right to bring it up. You've just got to get on with it. There are worst things out there in life.

End of FastScripts

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