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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

November 5, 2010

Lee Westwood

SHANGHAI, CHINA

Second Round 70 (-8) 136 Total.

SCOTT CROCKETT: Lee, thank you, as always, for coming in and joining us. Congratulations on a good first two days. Just give us your thoughts on today's round and your position in the tournament.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I played quite nicely today. I thought it was a little bit trickier. There was a bit more breeze. The flags were a little more tucked away. Obviously you could still score well but I thought it was a little bit harder. We were out last, which everybody's been on the greens in front of you. So all in all, I thought 70 was all right.
SCOTT CROCKETT: You spoke on Wednesday, Lee, about being unsure of exactly what your game would bring you. I suppose going out in the last group on Saturday is the best return you could hope for.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yes, it's very positive. Like I said, I haven't done much practise for -- well, since The Open really, or before that, because my leg hasn't permitted it, and certainly I haven't played at all in the last three weeks leading into here. It was always going to be a little bit tricky for me and I didn't know what to expect. Tee-to-green, I've been pretty good. My short game and pitching is a bit rusty which I expected it to be.
So 8-under is great as far as I'm concerned, yeah.
SCOTT CROCKETT: How is the leg standing up?
LEE WESTWOOD: It feels better today than it did yesterday, so I'm delighted about that. Felt pretty strong out there, and hopefully it's improving all the time.

Q. On the 18th hole, what's on your mind after you hit the third shot?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I made a mistake, really on the second shot. Billy, my caddie said it would be best to lay up and go with a full shot because of where the flag was cut. And I obviously knew better as a player and hit 5-wood and left it in just about the worst place I could.
That flag, when it's on the front is normally not as close to the slope as it was today. It's normally further across on the right-hand side, so you've got a little bit more room to play.
But today, as per usual, I should have listened to my caddie.

Q. Just curious where it went. We were listening to Ernie at the time, so I didn't see the worst imaginable spot on the 18th.
LEE WESTWOOD: I thought it was in a good spot, hit 5-wood in and it finished flag high left about 15 yards off the green, so I thought I would just have a simple chip down the green. But over cut the flag, fooled me and cut it nearer the slope than last year. That's why you shouldn't play golf by memory. (Laughter).

Q. Just wondering if there are times, not literally, obviously, but does the game feel -- has it felt easy over the last couple of years, if you know what I mean?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's felt easier over the last couple of years than it did about seven years ago. I think the better you're hitting it and the more confidence you've got in your game and short game, the better the game feels.
I don't want to say it ever feels easy, but when you've got a better short game, you can attack more flags and be less sort of worried about getting it into tricky positions.

Q. How does it work with you and Billy? When he makes a mistake, does he say sorry and when you make a mistake, do you say sorry, or are there sorry's?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's a bit like playing foursomes golf where you don't apologise when you've put your partner in the rubbish. (Laughter).
I like to go back to Brian Clough when he was the Nottingham Forest manager: So we have a discussion over the club, he tells me what he thinks and then we decide that I'm right normally. (Laughter).

Q. With the success of this tournament, it seems also inevitable we will see more competitions in China. How do you feel about the possibility of competing here more often in the future?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'd love to. I think golf is booming in China and in Asia as a whole.
I've always come over here and played a lot right from the late 90s, one of my first wins was the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur and I've won in Macau and Japan. So I've been coming over a long time. It's not like I'm new to it.
But certainly there's a big boom on in China, and this is the way that we are going to find a Chinese superstar of the future by playing more tournaments here. It's going to be encouraging for the locals and businesses obviously see a market here, as well.
So it's great for people like HSBC and great for the players that they will support -- sponsors like that in such tough times, will support tournaments.

Q. Your new weight training regime that you've incorporated since your injury, how do you find that that impacts on the game? I know it support your leg obviously and that was the design, but we understand you're bench-pressing a hundred kilograms, which is a huge chunk of weight. Wonder what impact that has ball-striking?
LEE WESTWOOD: I obviously hit the ball further than I did before I started doing that sort of thing. I haven't done a lot of it recently because I can't really do any of the power stuff through my legs yet. I still want it to be a 110 per cent fit before I do that.
So there's no clean and jerks and power lifting at the moment. I think the main thing is if I'm trying to change any movements in my swing, because I've built up some muscles, and the muscles appropriate to the golf swing; if I do want to change, it's made it a lot easier for me to tinker around and make those changes quicker.

Q. I was going to ask you if you're going to maintain this as part of your regime, the weight training, and if you think more golfers will do this, because it's not really been a feature of golfing preparation in the past.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'm definitely going to carry on. And no, I don't think many golfers do do it. I don't know too many that do power lifting and stuff like that.
Golf is an explosive sport, so you need that explosive power. It's certainly helped me. I don't see the point in standing on a treadmill or running on a treadmill for half on hour when you're going to go play golf and walk around. It's all right to be cardiovascularly fit, but I don't only need to be fit to play 36 holes in a day. I'm not going to be a marathon runner; I don't do that sort of thing. I do what's appropriate to golf.

Q. Have your expectations changed going into the last two days?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. I'm going to try and adopt the same attitude over the last two days as I have the first two days. I'm going to go out there and just still try and enjoy myself. I know which parts of my game could have improved over the first couple of days or that there could have been an improvement.
But everything's pretty competitive in my game. It's a good performance the first two rounds to come back to. You know, like I said, I didn't know what to expect, and I'm pleasantly surprised with how well I've played.

Q. Will there be any attitude change after you become the No. 1 in the world?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. I think I've obviously played well to get to No. 1 in the world and I'm probably doing the right things for me. So why not keep the same attitude and same preparation.

Q. Will there be more sponsors knocking on your door now?
LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, I hope so. (Laughter).
No, I have some great sponsors already. UPS, you can see there's not much room left; Audemars Piguet. And a lot of my sponsors are long-standing. I've been with Titleist and PING all my career, so we are talking over -- nearly 25 years with both of them. So I don't think there's many professionals out there that's had that much loyalty from both sides really.

Q. Have you ever paired up with Francesco before?
LEE WESTWOOD: I'm sure I must have done but I can't remember the last time. I may not have played with him before. You'll be able to tell me probably better. It's a long time since we've played together -- I tell a lie; I had a practise round with him at The Ryder Cup.
Getting old; bad memory.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Practise round at Celtic Manor; real thing tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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