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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 18, 2010Lee WestwoodST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND MALCOLM BOOTH: Ladies and gentlemen, we're joined by Lee Westwood. Lee, thanks for coming down, shot 2-under par 70 today for a four-round total of 279, 9-under par, and we'll see if it will be a runner-up position in the Open, but certainly going to be another very impressive performance in a major championship. Take us through your thoughts on that and your thoughts on the week in general. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, well, whether I won the tournament today was in the hands of other people. Louis has obviously played great and thoroughly deserves to win. So there's not even any real disappointment. If you get close and you lose, then there's disappointment, but I didn't even get within eight shots today. I played steadily. I played okay all week without really doing anything too special. I didn't make enough of the opportunities that my long game presented, really. Didn't putt well enough. My short game wasn't quite sharp enough. But all in all, delighted with the week. I keep putting myself into contention in these major championships and keep finishing in the top three. It's not really to be sniffed at and complained about. That's all I'm going to try and do, just try and keep going as I am, keep working out, trying to improve little bits, and hopefully one of these chances will turn into a trophy. Q. Were you handicapped in any way by your injury? And if so, to what extent? LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really, no. I didn't really feel like it held me back, no, not at all. Q. A similar injury question I'm afraid: You mentioned that you've had this rest off and what have you, what are you going to do now? Have you got any options, or have you just got to lie on a bed for a month? LEE WESTWOOD: That would be nice. That would be nice, lying down for a month. No, I think there's a little bit of rest involved, a bit of treatment on it. I just keep doing what I'm doing, obviously. I try to rest it as much as possible, so I didn't do as much practising as I would normally do this week. I tried to stay off my feet whenever possible. And walking six or seven miles a day is not going to rehab it in any way. But the good news is it's not swollen up any more like this morning than it was at the start of the week. It's better, if anything. So I think there's an improvement there, and if I can just take it easy the next couple weeks and rehab it correctly, I think I should be over it pretty quickly. It'll be okay for the Bridgestone and the PGA. Q. Are you going to carry on playing? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, definitely, yeah. Q. Over the four rounds, how many makeable putts would you say slipped agonisingly wide? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know, I haven't really counted. I wouldn't put it purely down to putting because putting, everybody thinks when the wind blows it affects the long game the most, but it doesn't. It tends to affect the putting the most. So it's difficult to remain any kind of rhythm because the putter is getting blown all over the place and the ball gets hit by the wind. I'm not reading too much into my putting this week. It's very difficult, and you're putting from a long way away most of the time. I missed I would say three or four on the week that I would expect to hole, but no more. Not anywhere near enough to get close to Louis. Q. How well do you know Louis? How do you pronounce his last name? And how amazed are you at the 17-under par that he's posting right now? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I probably don't butcher it as much as everybody else. Louis OOST-hou-sen I think it's pronounced, or I've heard it pronounced WEEST-hou-sen and all sorts, but I think it's OOST-hou-sen. I don't know him that well. I know him to chat to and share a joke with, and I think it's probably myself and Darren that nicknamed him Shrek in the early days. So he's got us to thank for that. But I've watched him -- I've played with him a little bit, a couple practise rounds maybe. I don't know if I've played with him in competition. I've certainly stood next to him on the range and watched him hit balls. I remember beginning of last year I had a good spell of tournaments in the desert, finished second or third in three consecutive weeks, and I remember watching him hit balls on the range there, and he's very impressive. He flights the ball very well when it gets windy. I can see why he's doing well this week. Has good penetration on his iron shots, and obviously got a lot of bottle. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is probably the first time he's been in contention at a major championship, and he's tackled everything that it's thrown at him like an old pro. Q. 17 is quite a number, isn't it? LEE WESTWOOD: It's phenomenal, yeah. It's a really good score. Q. In the past you've had mixed feelings about the Old Course. After another week of golf, can you talk a little bit about what you think of the place and maybe anything you've learned about it? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's grown on me over the years. I think when you're young and a bit naïve you come here and you kind of bash it around trying to hit it everywhere, and it's the kind of course that can lull you into a false sense of security, and you get too aggressive on it. It has a lot of subtleties out there. You see a lot of big, deep traps and a lot of big high slopes and mounds on the greens. But it's quite a subtle golf course and needs some thinking about. It's one of my favourites. It's one of the golf courses I truly look forward to coming and playing now. Q. With the Ryder Cup coming up, are there any concerns on your part regarding your -- LEE WESTWOOD: No, none at all, yeah. Q. You're going to be fine? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Q. If someone had told you before a ball was struck this week that Chubby would finally have a major winner in the stable, would you think, oh, goodie, it might be me or Rory and not Louis? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, you never know, do you. I suppose it was a slightly surprising win when Graeme won the U.S. Open. I think it's -- what's the word? I think it shows how strong golf is in depth. The young players are very, very good that come out now, and they're capable of going straight into major championships when they're in contention and winning them. Q. Do you think a major is just around the corner for you now, it's just a case of -- LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know if it's around the corner, but hopefully it's about three weeks away. But I don't know, you know. Like I said, I can't do much more than I'm already doing. I'm trying to improve all the time, and I'm sticking myself in contention. What is it now, second at the Masters and 16th at the U.S. Open and third at the PGA last year and third at the Open and second or third at the -- I've lost count. But you know, what else can you do other than getting in contention and playing well? MALCOLM BOOTH: Lee, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. End of FastScripts |
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