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BALLANTINE'S CHAMPIONSHIP

May 1, 2011

Lee Westwood

INCHEON, KOREA

MICHAEL GIBBONS: Lee, many, many congratulations. Ballantine's Championship winner, 2011, maybe just start off with your thoughts on how you feel about that.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's been over a year since I won on The European Tour, so it's nice to win again. Having said that, a win's a win and I did win last week. So it was nice to come back from last week and refocus and get it all together for this week, as well.
So no, I'm delighted. Professional golf is all about winning, and great to do it back-to-back two weeks in a row.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: We learned at start of the week that world No. 1 had never been to Korea, and you've now been to Korea and won, a bonus as well.
LEE WESTWOOD: When you're No. 1 it's always nice to come to a place and play like the world No. 1 and I think I did do this week. You know, today was very difficult out there. The wind was up and swirling around. There were some tough holes, difficult to club, and my distance control with my irons has been very good this week and I have a great caddie in Billy Foster, as well, which always helps on a day like today.

Q. At the beginning, at the outset there were some distractions from the gallery, but at the end of the day, we have really good results here, and I'm sure you have garnered a lot of new fans in Korea. So are you plan to go come back next year to the Ballantine's Championship?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'd like to come back. I always try to defend a tournament. The more tournaments that are played in Korea, the more the people are going to get used to watching golf. It's just one of those things when you come to countries that are not used to watching professional golf.
The marshaling was great today. There were no problems out there at all. The fans were very good, very supportive and just shows the keenness of the Korean public to come out and watch people I guess they have seen on TV playing around the rest of the world.
It's been a great week.

Q. Usually after the 18th hole, the chances are that it's likely that you're going to have to go into a playoff, you practice, but we noticed that you were in front of the TV watching the game. So why was that?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's been a long week, and you know, this is quite a hilly golf course, and I played 24 holes today instead of 18. I just wanted to conserve energy. I feel like I'm swinging really well, and you know, the longest I was going to be off the golf course was probably about an hour, so you know, I just thought I did it between the morning and the last round, I didn't go out and hit anymore balls. I feel like I've got my swing in good sync and I don't really need to go and warm up.

Q. Becoming the top-ranking golfer is understandably the dream of perhaps all professional golfers out there, and you've realized this dream. So what's your next goal? How does that factor into your play?
LEE WESTWOOD: My next goal is to win a Major Championship. Like you say, it's the dream of all professional golfers to get to No. 1 in the World Rankings, and I've done that. I haven't won a major yet and that's the missing thing. So that's what I gave all my practice towards and my scheduling. That's the next thing, hopefully.

Q. Can you talk about winning again, the comments you made in the beginning?
LEE WESTWOOD: Obviously it's my second trip to Korea, my first to main land Korea and it's place to play here and I try to win all over the world and to pick up wins all over the world is very special, as well. It was very tough out there and to go around without making a bogey, five birdies and 13 pars was a special round of golf I think.

Q. As you mentioned, you've been all over the world in Asia, Europe, you've been part of The European Tour, the Asian Tour, and you've seen a lot of different galleries. I want to go back to the first round where the galleries seemed to be a distraction. In your mind, based on your experience at this championship, what do you think that somehow, what, could the Korean gallery improve on? And my second question is what kind of behavior gets on the nerve the most for golf players?
LEE WESTWOOD: With golf being such a sport of concentration, it's very difficult when cameras and flashes go off whilst you're trying to play. That's just something that people need a little bit of educating on. You know, when you're about to step over the ball, you're really in the zone, and you know, that can break your concentration and then you have to step off it and start all over again.
Not only is it off-putting but it also slows down play a lot and makes the round very long. But after the first round, we were -- well, I certainly started to get used to it. It just made me focus more really, so I tried to make it a positive; so I focused my attention more.

Q. Last year at the Dubai Desert Classic, I understand you were in a playoff with JimÃ©nez and he won, so is the victory today all the more pleasant because of that? That's my first question. My second question is, the football team you support, Nottingham Forest, had a big win today did. That affect your performance today?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it does feel like I got Miguel back a little bit by winning today. But you know, it's -- and probably the Nottingham Forest 5-1 win when I turned the TV on this morning probably helped and got me in good spirits.
Myself and Miguel had dinner last night and I did say when we left the dinner table I said, "I'll see you tomorrow afternoon in a playoff." So thankfully it didn't go to that. (Laughter).

Q. What was it like watching Miguel come up the last fairway on v? Did you think he was going to do it? He made a lot of birdies on the 18th?
LEE WESTWOOD: I watched him play the last, from the 15th green. In it's more nerve-racking watching than it is out there playing, because you have a bit of control when you're out there playing.
But you know, I know now how my wife and kids feel like when they watch me at home on TV. Must be pretty nerve-wracking for them.
It's the kind of situation where you don't wish ill on somebody, especially Miguel because we get on so well; we have dinner and share a bottle of red wine together. I don't obviously wish ill on him but over those last three holes I wasn't cheering for him to make a birdie. I didn't want to go into a playoff. We are all professional sportsmen and we want to win.

Q. Like you said, today you had to go through 24 holes and overall it was a very long, tiring week. And on the last 18 holes, you did not have any bogeys, you had five birdies, so it seemed that you had great concentration. So how did you maintain that concentration?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, the fitness isn't a problem because I do a lot of gym work now when I'm in weeks off. So I've got pretty strong legs and the hills are not much of a problem.
It's focusing and concentrating all week, which is the difficult part. Especially when you're in contention. And that just comes with playing a lot of professional golf and being in that situation a lot. You train yourself to do it.

Q. So if you can tell us about your upcoming schedule and if you will remain on The European Tour?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've got two weeks off and then it's the Volvo Match Play in Spain. The following week it's the PGA Championship, BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, and then I've got another week off and then I'm playing in Memphis where I'm defending and then the U.S. Open at Congressional. I'm a European Tour Member this year, that's where I'll be playing mainly, so most of my tournaments for rest of the year will be in Europe or towards the end of the year in Asia.
MICHAEL GIBBONS: Congratulations once again. Wish you all the best the rest of the season.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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