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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 12, 2010Lee WestwoodST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND ALI BUCHAN: Ladies and gentlemen, let's make a start with, we're joined by world No. 3 Lee Westwood. Thanks for joining us. Now, we all know you've had a couple of injury niggles lately. How is your fitness coming into this? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I can't remember doing it. It may have happened over a period of time. I ruptured my plantaris muscle, which apparently is a rare muscle to start. It's not very important, but obviously if you rupture something, then there's swelling. I've got swelling into my ankle. I had about seven days doing nothing, which has been fairly boring. Apparently it's six to eight weeks recovery time if you put your feet up, but you know, obviously with the biggest tournament on the calendar this week, I can't really afford to do that. So it's just a case of managing it this week, managing it this week, strapping it up, trying to keep the swelling from getting any worse, and playing as well as I can. It doesn't hurt as much as it did in Paris, but it's still obviously not quite right, but it's not going to be. And then I've got a couple of weeks off after this to get some more treatment on it, and hopefully I'll be recovered for the Bridgestone. ALI BUCHAN: You finished in the top three of the last four majors, I believe, and you're a past winner of the Dunhill. How do you assess your chances going into the week? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it's not quite the last four majors, but I've finished top three in three of the last four. I've played well here in the past, obviously played well last year, and I've been looking forward to this week for quite some time. It's obviously the home of golf, a rich history to the golf tournament, especially when it's held at St. Andrews. I think it's even more special when the Open Championship is here, and obviously it's one I'd like to win. You know, I'm looking forward to Thursday when we get going. It's a while since I've played links golf, but when I have played links golf lately, I've played it well. It's a form of golf I enjoy. Q. Does it affect your swing, the rupture? LEE WESTWOOD: Only the end of it. It doesn't do a lot, but it obviously -- when I try and go up on my toe and then twist, I'm using it then, and it's kind of stretching it out and feels uncomfortable. The very last part, I'm just a little bit apprehensive. But hopefully as the week goes on, I'll get various types of strapping right. I've got strapping on now to try and support my ankle more. We can fine-tune it over the next couple of days, and hopefully it won't be too much of a problem. It's not going to be perfect, but what can you do? Q. (No microphone). LEE WESTWOOD: Well, these things happen. You can't control when they happen. You know, it's frustrating that it's the Open Championship. If I don't play well this week, I won't put it down to the injury. Obviously it doesn't help, but I'm hitting the ball well, feel like I'm very comfortable on these greens. So you know, I'm still hoping for a good week. Q. Just to clarify the situation about the Irish Open, could I take from what you said there that you had withdrawn? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I withdrew beginning of last week from the Irish Open. So I won't be playing there unfortunately. I would have liked to have played. Q. Of all the 20 Englishmen here, trying to replicate Faldo winning an Open, who do you think has the best chance is? LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't really looked at it. I have no real interest in any of the other Englishmen this week. I've got enough on my own plate to concentrate on. Q. Have you looked at the 17th, as well? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've just played the 17th. I think it's a really good improvement. Obviously it's longer, but the line is not changed a great deal. It's still a pretty similar line, it just -- because of the angle, the wall goes away on the right inside, and it comes into play more. It's a little bit more demanding. And then the rough is very thick on the left-hand side. So you obviously don't want to be in there. It's just a lay-up if you hit in there. Yeah, it's good. Q. How much have you tested it so far, and what are you going to do the next -- LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I haven't done a lot on it. I didn't hit balls until Friday last week, and then I've hit 20, 25 balls Friday, nothing Saturday, and then 20, 25, 30 balls Sunday. I've tried to give it as much rest as possible, but still, not coming here and not doing anything for a week, I've been on the putting green and wandering around and doing a bit of chipping. Q. Tomorrow and Wednesday? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'm going to play 18 -- I played six holes today. It feels okay. And I'll play 18 tomorrow, and then we'll see on Wednesday. The forecast is not great, so I might just play a few holes, go out and wander around. Q. Was your first question after you were told what the injury was, "Am I going to be okay for St. Andrews?" LEE WESTWOOD: No, it wasn't. Q. What was it? LEE WESTWOOD: I can't remember. I was too busy trying to understand from the guy reading the scan what was wrong and what the diagnosis was. Q. Did last year's very, very close shave with the Claret Jug have any part of your decision to be here at all? LEE WESTWOOD: No, just the tournament it is, nothing to do with form. I don't know how I'm going to play this week. Obviously I played well last year in the Open Championship, but it's the Open Championship; it's the biggest tournament of the year as far as I'm concerned, so that was really well. Q. Just as a follow-up, you genuinely have no idea how you did it? LEE WESTWOOD: How I did it? No. I think it happened over a period of time. I think it's probably age. Q. Are you talking about pain-killing injections? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think so. I wouldn't take pain-killing injections. I don't have to play that low. Q. Is there a slight concern you could do more damage by playing this week? LEE WESTWOOD: Apparently not, no. I've taken plenty of advice, and no. Q. Can you spell plantaris? P-l-a-n-t-a-r-i-s? LEE WESTWOOD: Your guess would be as good as mine, probably better. Having said that I've read some of your articles so I know (laughter). Q. Where exactly is it, this muscle? LEE WESTWOOD: It's in the dictionary under "P". (Laughter). Q. In which part of your anatomy? LEE WESTWOOD: It's a very thin muscle that's like a piece of string apparently, and it runs down through the calf and God knows where after that, into the ankle, I guess. I've had trouble with my Achilles for about eight months now, and I thought I had done something to my Achilles and I was doing exercises to strengthen that, but it must have been this. It runs very close to the Achilles and it goes down. Q. Is there a chance that it's related in some way to the rigorous gym work that you've done over recent years? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think so. I think it's more related to playing professional golf for 17 years. Q. Just wear and tear would you say? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Q. Just to go back to the 17th, you say you like the changes? LEE WESTWOOD: I do, yeah. Q. Today when you played it, what was your second shot as opposed to the last time you played before these changes were made? Was there a noticeable difference for you? LEE WESTWOOD: I hit a lot shorter club in, but it would be dependent on the weather and the wind. Sometimes you don't hit driver off 17 when the tee is on the front because it narrows up. It was a driver and a 5-iron today. I hit a driver and a 5-iron there in the past. Q. But the distance, how does it compare? LEE WESTWOOD: One thing I will say, it is a green that regardless where the flag is you tend to only play for the front or to certain spots anyway. There's many different ways to play the 17th. You obviously can go left and depending on where the flag is, short, right, and go at the green that way, whichever way you see best for the way you play. Q. In terms of distance, I accept the weather thing obviously, but given normal conditions, whatever the hell normal conditions are around here, what would the distance be do you think now? How much more would you be playing on the second shot, how many more yards? LEE WESTWOOD: I guess I'd say I was about 30 yards behind where I have been on average in recent years, yeah. Q. And for you that would be, what, two clubs? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'd say two clubs. Q. What is your line from that tee, and presumably you fade it back? LEE WESTWOOD: Old, anywhere over old is a good line, and not much further than L in the hotel, that's h-o-t-e-l (laughter). Q. Brian Davis, if he comes to you and says, what are your chances of playing on Thursday, is it 100 per cent? LEE WESTWOOD: Mine, yeah. Q. Has a previous scan missed this, or have you not had a scan? LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't had a scan. I flew back from Paris on Sunday night and I had an MRI as soon as I got back. I went into Leeds for it (Leeds). Q. (No microphone). LEE WESTWOOD: No, I'm still pretty confident. Q. You like the preparation, you like playing the week before? LEE WESTWOOD: I would have liked to have come up on Thursday and played then, but at the same time, I feel pretty fresh. My legs feel like I haven't done anything to decrease the power and the muscles in my legs. We've done tests on all of that. So I'm feeling fresh, and I think by Thursday I'll be ready to go, yeah. Q. There is a history of injured golfers doing well in tournaments -- LEE WESTWOOD: That's the old saying, isn't it, "beware the injured golfer," so hopefully that will ring true. ALI BUCHAN: Lee, best of luck this week. End of FastScripts |
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