	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

COMMERCIALBANK QATAR MASTERS PRESENTED BY DOLPHIN ENERGY

February 2, 2011

Lee Westwood

DOHA, QATAR

STEVE TODD: Thanks for coming in, Lee. It's always a pleasure to have you here, especially as world No. 1.
LEE WESTWOOD: Nice to be here.
STEVE TODD: Third here last year. Just wonder if you can start with your thoughts returning to this event.
LEE WESTWOOD: It's an event I've been looking forward to. It's an event I played well last year. Probably out of the four Desert Swing tournaments, it's the toughest golf course. Seems to get a little bit more windy than any of the four -- well, I don't know much about Bahrain; and the scoring always seems to be a bit tougher.
The rough is up, and the greens certainly are very firm this year. So I think they have set it up well and looks like a tough test ahead. Obviously played well last year. I have to contend with a few different things. Smashed my driver on Saturday when I was just in the lead. Hopefully it will all go to plan this week and I'll do better than third.
STEVE TODD: The first time we've had world No. 1 and No. 2 from Europe since 1993, England and Germany, a nice symmetry to that. Just wonder your thoughts on the subplot of that this week.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, there isn't really a subplot for me but if you ask Martin, he'll probably say the same. It's obviously nice for us and for European golf that, you know, that 1 and 2 in the world are here at this tournament and both European. That just shows the strength of The European Tour now, the kind of fields that we have attracted the first few weeks of the year.
It's nice that Steve Stricker, and Phil came over for Abu Dhabi, and Tiger is coming next week. They are realising that these are big tournaments in their own right as well and they are choosing them over the ones in the States. I think it shows how healthy The European Tour is.
STEVE TODD: Shows how far The Desert Swing has developed, as well.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, absolutely. I've been playing it for 17 year the, 18 years, 19 years. 1994 was the first year I played in Dubai. I've enjoyed it. It's changing all the time and they are great golf courses and fantastic climate to play in, especially when you see the weather at home. It's a great start to the year and really gets you going.

Q. I heard you were interviewed on TV yesterday, saying that being No. 1, you're finding a lot more demands on your time. Is it difficult to balance the responsibilities of being No. 1 and the responsibilities of playing as No. 1?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think first and foremost, you have to look after your game. So basically I just end up saying no a lot to lots of people. Obviously there's a lot more requests on time and stuff like that, so you just have to be a bit harsh at times and there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Q. Are the demands coming from media?
LEE WESTWOOD: Everywhere really. You get recognized by the public more, media, everybody wants to talk to you, which is fair enough.
You know, people want you to play in their tournaments, are obviously keen for to you play in their tournaments and there are just demands from everywhere really.

Q. Do you think one of the keys to remaining No. 1 is not so much to give yourself focussed but keeping yourself fit and fresh?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I mean, having been world No. 1 for 12, 13 weeks now, I can see why Tiger played such a limited schedule over all of those years. I'm not saying that I'm the profile that he is, but I've had little glimpses into how demanding it can be to be world No. 1. I have great appreciation for it now, yeah.

Q. Is it some sort of comfort to you that because it's now a very volatile situation, if you lost it tomorrow, you could get it back next week?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I really don't pay much attention to it, but I think that's how the World Rankings should be. It should reflect who is best at the time. And that's the way it's panning out at the moment with everybody so close together.
Martin has obviously played well two weeks ago, but in the couple of months previous to that, I probably played the best of the world out of anybody. So you know, if you get a run together and put together good, high-quality performances, then you get to where you deserve to be.

Q. What is it particularly that appeals to you about this course?
LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's a demanding course off the tee. The pressures are there to hit the fairways. I like it that the wind picks up. You have to control your ball flight a lot around here. I just think it's a good balance of a golf course. It seems to test everything, long par 3s, short par 3s, long par 5s, reachable par 5s, long par 4s and drivable par 4s like 16. The finish is exciting. You've got 15, which is a tough hole, 16 drivable, 17 is a short three which gives you a chance and 18 is obviously a par 5.
I think all through the golf course, there are quality holes and there's volatility out there.

Q. Having Steve Stricker as your playing partner, will that bring back some Ryder Cup memories?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, not so much playing with Steve, but him being here and being involved in the tournament. It's good for the tournament. He's been a great player for a long time now. His career has followed a similar path to mine where we were both high up in the World Rankings and then dropped off and both come back. And in previous times when we've played together, we've chatted about that. I get on well with Steve and always enjoyed when we played together.
Hopefully don't bring back memories of The Ryder Cup because he beat me 2 & 1.

Q. Are you surprised that Steve has never played a regular European Tour event?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I know he doesn't come out of the states very much but it's nice to see him doing that. But then again not many of the top American players do and have only just started doing it recently.

Q. Can you see a situation where if there are more World Ranking points here, more might come?
LEE WESTWOOD: It would certainly be nice to see it, yeah. You know, our fifth major, the PGA Championship, has a Top-50 in the world exemption. Might be nice to see the top Americans come over for that. I think it's just a transition that needs to be made.

Q. Is it going to make it easier for Europe to get sponsors if all of best players in the world are playing in Europe whether they are Europeans or not?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, obviously they go hand in hand with each other. The better-quality field you can get, the more sponsors setup and are attracted to events. I think that's the same worldwide. We all need to group together, especially at times like this, where people are struggling for cash and don't have the disposable incomes to putt into tournaments. I think it's a case of all pulling together for to do the best thing for golf, not just each other's tours.
STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us, Lee.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297