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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

November 4, 2010

Lee Westwood

SHANGHAI, CHINA

First Round 66 (-6)

SCOTT CROCKETT: Lee, thank you very much for coming in and joining us and very well done on an excellent opening round of 66. Just give us your thoughts on that first round.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I didn't really know what to expect. I haven't played and I haven't practised much recently. One stroke-play event since The Open Championship is a bit under-golfed, I suppose.
So I just went out there with a pretty clear mind. Hit the ball okay. Hit a few balls last week and hit it okay. But practise in England is not particularly easy at this time of year, so it's difficult to tell how you are hitting it.
And played well. Drove the ball nicely. Hit quite a lot of good iron shots. I was a little rusty in places with my scoring, but I putted nicely, as well. Made a couple of nice 18-footers when I needed to and saved myself when I missed greens.
All in all, I think I probably deserved about a 66.
SCOTT CROCKETT: It's difficult when you haven't played in a while, Lee. Did you have a target in mind today or did you just go out and see how it went?
LEE WESTWOOD: The target was just to go out there and enjoy myself and see what happened.
It is difficult, like you say, and I'm the kind of player that historically has needed a lot of golf or needed to play consecutive weeks to get some form together. But you know, in the time off, it's not like I wasn't sort of in the gym working out and training.
So I've been keeping myself pretty fit and trying to improve those aspects, just working on everything where I can. You know, it was nice to hit a couple of long ones on the last couple of holes. I got on 8 in two with a driver and a 5-wood which was pretty long. And I hit a big one down 9 and only an 8-iron in there. I was pleased with the way I hit it having not played a lot.

Q. How much golf have you played since the Dunhill?
LEE WESTWOOD: That's my first. Played the Pro-Am yesterday, and that's the last time I walked around since last round of the Dunhill.
My ankle is better, and my calf is fully -- well it seems -- I suppose -- it feels about 85, 90 per cent. As the round goes on, it starts to ache and I start to feel like it gets a little bit sort of sloppy and I lose control and power a bit.
So I have to continually remind myself when I'm swinging out there to sort of reinforce it almost; engage it before I actually make a swing, which is a bit unfortunate because I like to go out there and just sort of free wheel and play with a clear mind and I'm having to sort of consciously think about it all the time.
But it's there, so still got the power in it now, where it didn't a few weeks back. But I can still sort of mentally do that and keep control of my swing.

Q. You needed to ice your leg last night; is that right?
LEE WESTWOOD: I do it every time I've been active on it. So that's just the best way to keep it recovering properly.

Q. So do you keep a pack of ice permanently in your hotel room or how does it work?
LEE WESTWOOD: I try to keep ice. I try to get ice wherever possible. It's just another sort of thing that you have to do but it's not really too much of an inconvenience. It's only ten, 15 minutes a night I have to.

Q. How much work have you been able to do with Pete Cowen, obviously since the Open and sort of in the buildup to this.
LEE WESTWOOD: Not a lot. I've seen him a couple of times. I saw him twice last week and we worked for four hours a time, which is not really enough. I'd like to be practising more than that.

Q. And just a follow-up to that, on a wider point about Pete; the fact that he's helped take you to No. 1 in the world, he's helped Graeme McDowell win the U.S. Open and Louis win the Open. Can you think of a coach in any sport who has had more success this year?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. He must be Coach of the Year, eh, the BBC Sports Personality (laughing). Are you volunteering him for it, are you --

Q. Well, I'm just asking questions.
LEE WESTWOOD: -- as a BBC correspondent.
No, he's had a fantastic year. He's a great coach. I was probably one of the first people to see him back in 1995 and he turned my game around then. I don't do as much work on the long game with him now, but we do a lot of work on the short game, which is evident in the way it's improved. And I think that in turn filters through the rest of my game, the stuff we work on on the short game.

Q. It's your first game after you've become world No. 1. How do you feel about that? Do you feel just like you're being Tiger Woods or the world No. 1?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I don't think I need to reinforce why I'm world No. 1. I think you get there as a result of having good performances, but it's nice to go out there and show everybody that there is a particular reason why I got to that stage. I think I did that today. But you know, it's only the first round of tournament and my main focus is on trying to win this HSBC Champions event.
So I didn't really go out there with any particular thought to performing like the world No. 1 really.

Q. With the four or actually about a half dozen guys in the mix at No. 1 right now, how long do you suspect this will go on before there's a little more clarity? Do you follow me? There's you and Tiger, Martin, Phil --
LEE WESTWOOD: You just basically asked me how long a piece of string it is I think.
I think the World Rankings are reflective of how competitive world golf is at the moment. Nobody is out-and-out world No. 1. I think that's partly to do with Tiger not having played quite so well this year, and partly to do with Tiger having made everybody else elevate their games. He's a victim almost of his own brilliance; that, you know, we have all had to work harder and we have closed the gap I guess.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Lee, thank you very much. Well played today.

End of FastScripts

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