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ALSTOM OPEN DE FRANCEJune 30, 2010Lee WestwoodPARIS, FRANCE RODDY WILLIAMS: Lee, thanks for coming in and joining us this morning and welcome back to the Alstom Open de France. Close call in this event last year, first of all, if you can give us your thoughts on being back here again this year and possibly memories of last year. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it's an event I've always enjoyed. It's a golf course I enjoy playing. I seem to play well around here, second last year and fifth the year before, I think it was. I've had a lot of Top-10 finishes here I think. 1994, I remember finishing fourth or something like that, so I seem to have played well in the past and looking forward to this year. I've been playing pretty well just recently, and it's a nice course to play a couple of weeks before The Open Championship. RODDY WILLIAMS: A lot of people talk about the sort of links feel to this course; can you elaborate on that? LEE WESTWOOD: It does have a tendency to get a little bit firm down here and you have sort of dunes down the side of fairways. Obviously there's a bit more water than there would be on a traditional links golf of course, but it's certainly got more of a linksy feel than Loch Lomond; if you were choosing one are or the other in the next couple of weeks to warm up on, I guess this would be the one. RODDY WILLIAMS: Big week this week, but looking ahead to St. Andrews, some big tournaments coming up at the moment. LEE WESTWOOD: It's a busy time of the year, obviously just had the U.S. Open and obviously this is a big event this year, National Championship and then The Open Championship in a couple of weeks, and then two big ones in America two weeks after that. So it's a good time of the year to play well and to get the scheduling right and hopefully win a couple of these next ones. Q. Thoughts on your performance at the U.S. Open? LEE WESTWOOD: Average, really. Could be better I suppose. I didn't strike the ball particularly well. Short game wasn't too bad. It was fairly sharp. I didn't putt particularly well, so you're not going to win an event if you don't -- especially something like the U.S. Open, if you haven't got everything in decent shape. Q. Looking forward now to St. Andrews? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very much so. It's a course I enjoy playing, and you know, the last couple of years I've played well and shot some good scores around and looking forward to seeing it nice and bouncing and seeing the changes to 17. Q. Will you go up before? LEE WESTWOOD: Next Thursday I'm going to try to get up there for a practise round. And then I'll go back Monday afternoon probably. RODDY WILLIAMS: Obviously a lot of success for European golfers around the world at the moment, a golden spell for European golf -- LEE WESTWOOD: Not quite as good as the golden age of football, is it. We won't mention the cricket (laughter). RODDY WILLIAMS: Talk a little about the golf and the success of European golfers all around the world and we obviously had Graeme winning the U.S. Open, Grégory Havret coming in second. LEE WESTWOOD: We have some great players in Europe at the moment. It's time to take advantage of that. I won the week before the U.S. Open, as well, and Justin a few weeks before that at the Memorial. We have been playing well in the States. We have been playing well over here. You know, the form is very good from European golfers and the standard is very high. Q. What do you think is the reason -- obviously because they are playing better, but this is probably a bigger wave than ever before. LEE WESTWOOD: I think we work hard, as well. The Europeans play all over the world, and the range is the busiest, certainly, at European Tour events. Q. European's seem to be riding a wave at the moment? LEE WESTWOOD: It seems to be that way at the moment, yeah. RODDY WILLIAMS: Is there a lot of spurring each other on? LEE WESTWOOD: Certainly helps. When one player wins an event, the others think, well, if he can do that, I can do that. If he can do that, I can do that sort of attitude. That definitely has something to do with it, too. Q. Have they lost their talisman - Tiger Woods? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think that makes much difference, no. Q. They should really -- LEE WESTWOOD: They have got lots of good players over there, not just one obviously. Q. But there is no longer one player winning everything? LEE WESTWOOD: Somebody dominating? I think that's a reflection of how strong we are in golf at the moment. There are a lot of people playing at a very high level and it is very difficult to dominate the sport at the moment. Q. Will he dominate again like he once did? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, you don't know. You never know. Players hit peaks and troughs during their career, and it's very hard to maintain a high level all the time. You know, you get fatigued mentally and physically at some stage. Q. A lot of people on the range -- LEE WESTWOOD: There's a lot everywhere. You couldn't criticise being on the range at Wentworth this year, could you. Q. Your thought on Le Golf National for as a course for The Ryder Cup? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think the finish is certainly very good, but all of the candidates for The Ryder Cup, the people who have put their names forward have got good golf credentials and that's the way it should be. It should be competitive. France have had some good Ryder Cup players recently, and it's a good venue and certainly the last four holes would make for an exciting finish, I will say that. Q. Will you be playing in the Olympics? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, that's a long way away at the moment. I'll be 45 years old by the time that comes around, so I'm not really thinking that far ahead (laughing). Tomorrow is about as far ahead as I'm thinking. You never know, all of the fitness work may enable me to keep my career going longer, that's the idea. I don't know what level I'll be playing at. Just enjoying playing well now. RODDY WILLIAMS: Thank you very much. Good luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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