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ST. JUDE CLASSIC PRESENTED BY SMITH & NEPHEW

June 10, 2010

Lee Westwood

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

COLIN MURRAY: Alright. Lee, thanks for joining us here in the interview room at the St. Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew.
7-under par, 63 today. Good playing, obviously. 7-under par, 63. 29 your first 9.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yes.
COLIN MURRAY: Leading with a course record. If you could talk about the start you got off to.
LEE WESTWOOD: 29, that was a pretty good start. Couple of good shots at 12 to about 8 feet. Nice 5-iron into 14 to 5 feet. Holed a nice one from 30 feet at 15 and hit 5-wood to 3 feet on 16. 3-wood, 7-iron to about 15 feet on 18.
So, you know, I missed a couple of greens in there. Played solidly. Birdied the 1st from 8 feet. Missed a good chance at the next. Hit it in the water at 3, got in with a 4-iron. Slipped a little bit there but holed a nice putt for par. Missed from about 12 feet on 4 for birdie. About 15 feet on 5 for birdie. Made a nice 15-footer on 7 for par and missed from 4 feet on last for birdie. So, you know, pleased with the start. 63 is always a good start. I couldn't be disappointed with that. Could have been better, but I'm not going to cry too much from missing from 4 feet on the last.
COLIN MURRAY: 6-under 29 for you on that side. We'll go ahead and open it up to questions.

Q. Lee, can you talk about how favorable the conditions were for scoring like early on?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, normally -- my caddie has been here before. I haven't obviously, but my caddie said normally there's a bit of breeze that blows. You try and score when you get your morning time on the first two days when it's fairly calm. So that's what I tried to do. The wind didn't pick up. It may pick up a little bit now. You just try and make the most of it while it's not blowing. You got better greens obviously in the morning.

Q. When you got to 7-under through ten holes, did you start thinking about any magic numbers or any super low number?
LEE WESTWOOD: I wasn't even aware I shot 29 on the front-9. But then I birdied 7, and I had about an 8-footer on the next for birdie and thought knock this in, try to birdie the next. Then I realized it was par 70 as well. So I needed a couple more for coming to 59. I didn't dwell on that for too long. I've had a chance to shoot 59 before. You tend not to do it when you let your mind get away from you a little bit. I was just trying to hit good shots, really, and carry on doing what I had been doing on the front-9. To shoot a 29, you have to roll a few putts and the putts didn't continue to go in on the back-9. That's how it is sometimes.

Q. I think you had 11 putts through ten holes. Can you just talk about the putter?
LEE WESTWOOD: Anytime you're 7-under through 10, you have to putt well. It was a couple of nice ones in there. Like I said, one from about 30 feet on 15. 12, 14, 16 were ones you would expect to hole. Left them in the right place, straight uphill. 3 feet.

Q. Lee, historically, how well do you play when you're playing a course for the first time?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's been a long time since I played a course for the first time. I just played the Honda for the first time this year. I finished in the Top-10. That was pretty good. Last year we all played the course at Dubai for the first time there. I was 23 under. I adjust fairly well, I think. You can play most courses if you hit it straight and close. (Laughter). You played it before, you know.

Q. Can you just talk about this is a ball striker's course going into the Open, which is obviously this year very much a ball striker's venue?
LEE WESTWOOD: U.S. Opens are always ball strikers' venues. That is much better golf course than -- than I imagined it to be. It's a real solid test and is a lot of intimidating tee shots out there, and there's a really good variation on the golf course.
It's a nice mix of hard holes and gives you a chance, and I was pleasantly surprised when I played nine holes on Tuesday and the Pro-Am on Wednesday. It's a really good test, I think. If you play well, you can score. If you don't, you get penalized, which is all you can ask from a golf course.

Q. What was behind your decision to come here a week before a Major, just thinking?
LEE WESTWOOD: I've always been the kind of player that likes to play everywhere. I've played all around the world. I've never been to Memphis. So it's somewhere I wanted to come and play. It's the week before the U.S. Open. I like to be competitive before a major Championship. I played Houston before the Masters. Being competitive means more to me than actually adapting to the conditions. A lot of people like to play the week before the Open. I like to get used to making the 3, 4-footers when they mean something. Like I said, nice play, good test of golf. So, that's about it.

Q. Lee, what have you done to prepare for the U.S. Open? Have you been to the venue?
LEE WESTWOOD: I was there -- I played 27 holes on Sunday and 9 holes -- 18 holes on Monday morning. So I flew to San Francisco Saturday from London and then came here.

Q. Did you play?
LEE WESTWOOD: Roundabout way to do it.

Q. Did you get paired with some regular folk up there?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. I went out early on my own. There were a few people on the golf course but not many. I think they're cutting back down. The course was in spectacular condition, I would say. A real demand and test. It's going to be tough.

Q. Had you played it before?
LEE WESTWOOD: I played in 2000. I finished 5th. I played one Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It plays a lot different in June to the other way it plays.

Q. What do you attribute the resurgence of British golf, so many players doing well this year?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think because if you think about it, I know ten years ago there were people complaining or pointing out that I was the only one in the top rankings from England. So, you know, maybe some of the guys that are playing with me now from England saw that I was doing it in 2000 and then if one can do it, more can do it. Hopefully, because there's so many good English and British golfers around at the moment, it will inspire kids back on to hitting a golf ball instead of football or cricket.

Q. What made your decision to get a personal trainer? How has that affected you, you have a personal trainer, kind of redid your body.
LEE WESTWOOD: I started working out seriously about three years ago. Guy called Steve McGregor. I just looked to the people at the top world rankings. They were all big lugs with big shoulders. The way the golf courses were going, they were getting longer and the rough was getting thicker. You needed strength. I hit 30 and things started to ache a little bit more than they did in the 20s. I couldn't get away with it quite as much as I used to be able to.
I figured if if I wanted to have longevity in the game, I needed to do something about it. So I obviously tried to get stronger and bulk up a bit and take care of myself a little bit more.
COLIN MURRAY: Alright. Lee, thanks for your time. Good luck the rest of the week.

End of FastScripts

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