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ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

January 19, 2011

Lee Westwood

ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you very much, Lee, and thanks, as always for joining us. Welcome to the HSBC Abu Dhabi Golf Championship. Happy new year to you.
LEE WESTWOOD: Happy new year, yes.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Obviously talking about a new year, we should perhaps talk about an old year. You ended it as world No. 1, and of course ended it with a wonderful victory at the Nedbank. Just talk about that. That was a great way to end the year, wasn't it.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it was. I had only one once before the Nedbank last year and I had not really got on a run of tournaments where I could build up any kind of form. And that was really the first time in the second half of the year where I got momentum going, finishing second in China and then third in Dubai with only one other player.
It was nice to carry the momentum into another tournament and finish it up. It was lovely to come up with the last hole of the year with a seven-shot lead. It's a memorable way, and in a way, it's great for your confidence to finish the year.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And have you wintered well? Nice break?
LEE WESTWOOD: I've wintered really well. I'm not as fat as I thought I would be standing here, or sitting here (chuckling). I hardly hit a ball for three or four weeks really. Partly to do with the snow, lingered around for a good few weeks in Worksop and then because I went on holiday for a couple of weeks in Barbados, to Sandy Lane in Barbados. I played two rounds of golf there, I didn't do any practise. It was Rolls Royce sort of tee-up-and-off-you-go golf, and came home last week refreshed and ready to work and go again.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Looking forward to the week obviously with that break behind you.
LEE WESTWOOD: Very much so. I came out a week ago now to Dubai for four days, did some practise at the Els Club and the Emirates Golf Club. Did a little work with Pete and then played the Pro-Am on Monday at Yas Links, the Emirates Classic, and got the feeling of trying to score again, so gradually shaking off the rust. I'm looking forward to tomorrow getting going.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Sure. Thanks for that, Lee.

Q. Are you fully fit now going into the new campaign, or is that injury still niggling occasionally?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's not really niggling. I don't think it's quite right but it doesn't stop me from doing anything. I think it's just a matter of time now just to keep working on it and strengthening it up in the gym and just keep working at it until it doesn't come back.

Q. Does it mean you have to curtail your schedule in any way?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, I'm playing the full schedule that I would have done anyway. So no problems there.

Q. Should we expect a sort of steady start from you? Are you sort of building up in this period or do you feel really ready to explode?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think a steady start is probably more likely. But I suppose the way I was injured last year and kept having big breaks and then coming back and playing well straightaway, it wouldn't surprise me if I played well this week.
So I don't really know what to expect which is sometimes a good way to go out on a golf course and play with no expectation. Good things can happen. My swing feels pretty solid and my short game feels pretty sharp. I think as the week goes on, I'll get more comfortable on the greens.
So, you know, you could put five weeks around me, but I wouldn't advise it, as might be a better bets out there.

Q. With hindsight, that performance in Shanghai, guys like Renton Laidlaw, Warren Humphreys are actually comparing what you and Francesco did to the Duel in the Sun in '77. So given your thoughts there and so much pressure as the new world No. 1, your thoughts on how you handled that pressure that week?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, that was the first week at world No. 1 so it was nice to come out and play well and really justify that I was the top of the World Rankings. I wouldn't quite put it in that bracket of history, legend.
But you never whenever you beat third place by nine, it doesn't happen very often, and we were obviously playing a bit better golf than anybody else. But still, it's something that I could build on, finishing second in a World Golf Championships, obviously I would have liked to have won.
I played great golf that week but Francesco played great golf that week, too, and just a little bit better than me. I'm sure that built up some momentum for the weeks to come, there's no doubt about that.

Q. How do you assess the course and how do you think your game will work with it?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, only played nine holes yesterday, the front nine, and it felt tough. You know, they lengthened a couple of holes, put a couple of new fairway bunkers in. There's quite a bit of rough out there. The greens are firm. So it's quite tricky I think.
I haven't really got it sort of straight in my head how I should really approach the golf course. Three years ago I finished second and last year I missed the cut; albeit there were other factors in there with the new groove changes and things like that.
So I don't really know what to expect from the golf course this year, or myself, really. So you know, it will be interesting to go out. All I can really concentrate on is just trying to hit quality shots and make it up as a go along really this week. It's not one of those places that's immediately clear in my mind to me. Maybe it might become a bit more when I've had a full round this afternoon.

Q. Yesterday the tournament committee met to consider a case of cheating. How do you view that kind of issue in golf? Is it something that you're confronted with?
LEE WESTWOOD: Cheating?

Q. Yeah, and your experience of it.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, firstly, I mean, I don't sit on the committee and I don't really know too many of the facts about it. Cheating in general, I don't think there's any place for it in sports. It occurs quite frequently in other sports, but I think golf is different from those sports and can separate itself by doing something about it when it happens, which it looks like they are doing.
It's what sets golf apart. We have our rules but we also have a little book on etiquette, as well, which other sports don't have. You don't see us jumping in the referees face when something goes wrong and waving our fingers at him trying to get the other player on the other side of the fairway carded. (Laughter) You don't see us missing a putt and diving.
It's not something I've had a lot to do with this case, so probably shouldn't really comment too much on it. But I don't think there's any place for cheating in golf at all, or sport, for that matter.

Q. But in terms of your experience of golf over the years, it's not something that you personally --
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, the fact they are highlighting it so much proves how often it happens; it's very rare in golf. We are our own rules officials really. Someone can be over in the trees one side of the fairways and the ball moves and they call a penalty on themselves. It's generally regarded as a game for gentlemen.

Q. As you wait for the Majors to come around, is staying No. 1 a nice early season motivator?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it would be nice to go to the Masters as world No. 1, but it's not something I really focus on. If I play well in the tournaments, then that takes care of itself. It is very reflective of the way people play. My main goal is to try and win some of these early-season tournaments.

Q. There were three first-time major winners in 2010; how much, if at all does it concern you you've achieved so much in your career but not yet joined that exclusive club?
LEE WESTWOOD: It doesn't concern me that much. It's one of those things, all you can do is try your best and put yourself in position as often as possible to try and win a Major. If I keep doing that, with a bit of luck hopefully, sooner rather than later, my time will come to be a first-time winner and a second time as soon as possible after that.

Q. I think I'm right in saying that the very last shot you played in competition was a holed chip?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, not bad for somebody with a bad short game.

Q. Did a wry smile part over your face at the irony of that happening, and did appropriately end your year?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it was a very memorable way to finish the year and a memorable way to finish a tournament. You know yourself at the Nedbank, it's a bit of an amphitheatre on the last and the crowd gather around it, and they have been on the Castle pretty much all day and they are in good spirits and just looking for something good to happen. And a chip-in to win the tournament, that's about the pinnacle of it really.
It was a good way to finish the year. I think if you look at my statistics, my short game's not too bad. I think in scrambling I was about 12th last year in all-around scrambling. So it's something that's highlighted. I don't know why people highlight it. It's a lot better than I think people really give me credit for.

Q. Were we slightly unkind suggesting when we said it was weak a few years ago?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it was weak a few years ago but I've worked hard at it and brought it to a level where maybe it's not as good as the rest of my game. But I think everybody has got strengths and weaknesses. And people ask me what my strengths are, I would probably say tee-to-green or driving the ball. If that's my strength, my short game is not going to get up to that standard and maybe gets highlighted a bit more. I don't think it's by any means poor. I don't think you can get to 1 in the world with a poor short game. It's not possible.

Q. If somebody offered you a swap, a Major for your No. 1 spot, would you take it?
LEE WESTWOOD: I've been asked this quite a lot recently, and no, I wouldn't swap anything. Because in sport, and especially golf, you get when you deserve. I've worked incredibly hard over 17 years, or even more than that, to get to world No. 1, and I'm not going to give it up for anything. If I win a Major Championship, then I will have deserved to. Currently, I haven't got one so I haven't done the right things at the right time, or done the right things on that week.
So I don't think -- I can't understand it when people say would you swap something, because in golf, you certainly only ever get what you deserve and by putting hard work in.

Q. When was your last alcohol drink and when will your next one be? I don't mean you're an alcoholic but I just meant --
LEE WESTWOOD: I feel like saying my name is Lee Westwood and I've been off it for eight days now. (Laughter).

Q. Just wondering about your dry spell.
LEE WESTWOOD: What day is it? Sunday the 9th of January about 1:30 Barbadian time on my wedding anniversary it was, and it was a glass of champagne.

Q. Next one?
LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't had one since. Next one? It would be hard to stop me if I won a tournament I think. So hopefully Sunday night.
SCOTT CROCKETT: We'll all join you on Sunday night if that comes true. Good luck.

End of FastScripts

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