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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 25, 2011

Lee Westwood

SURREY, ENGLAND

SCOTT CROCKETT: Lee, thanks, as always, for coming in and joining us this morning, and welcome once again to the BMW PGA Championship. Before we look ahead to this week, let's look at your season up-to-date, two wins back-to-back, Indonesia and Ballantine's, that must have been really pleasing for you.
LEE WESTWOOD: It was good. I played okay the first couple of months of the year, but not really found much form on the greens, and historically I've not been too fast a starter in years gone by, so that didn't worry me too much. It was nice to get a couple of wins back-to-back, and start seeing a few 20-footers go in, and then played well again last week.
SCOTT CROCKETT: And cementing your place at the top of the World Rankings.
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know cementing it. I'm only a little bit in front.
SCOTT CROCKETT: I'm trying to build you up. (Laughter).
LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, nice try. But nice to be at the top of the World Rankings. Looking forward to this week. And keeping the form going.
SCOTT CROCKETT: We spoke a little bit about last night, give us your thoughts on last night, the Tour as dinner.
LEE WESTWOOD: I thought it was a great dinner. Mind you, if you can't make the good dinner out of the form that the that European golfers have shown the last few years, you're going to struggle, aren't you. It was a great night I think had by all.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Indeed. Give us your thoughts on this week.
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, this is obviously our showpiece event of the year. It attracts one of the best fields around a good golf course. I haven't seen the changes that Ernie has done from last year.
Obviously I think it was well documented that I criticised the 8th and 18th greens, and he's changed those. So if they are not right, you can blame me I guess. Nice to see those changed, because yeah, the 8th was maybe a little severe and I don't know what they have done, imagine they have made it a little more subtle.
But the 18th, I think you know, everybody likes to see somebody having a chance to make eagle to win or having to be aggressive and I think, you know, making the target a little bit bigger will encourage that.

Q. Was it a shame there's no Americans here?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I suppose that's the only slightly disappointing thing for the week. It would be nice to maybe see a few of the younger Americans come over and support the event.
It's a big event, and you've got to look at the quality of the field, and I suppose that's the only thing lacking this week are a few Americans.

Q. Just following up on that, what would be their incentive to come here? What could they gain from it?
LEE WESTWOOD: It's a massive tournament, isn't it. Lots of money, it's a prestigious title and there's loads of World Ranking points. It's 15 minutes from Heathrow airport if you don't like a long drive.
Rather than the negatives to the week, there are so many positives to playing here. Last week is a massive event, the Match Play, which a few would have been qualified for, so it would have been a good one.

Q. Just going onto that, I remember Ernie Els once saying that to be a world-class golfer, you have to test yourself across the world. Would you back that up?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think that's the way I've always tried to play. I've tried to play everywhere. You know, I understand that they have got some big tournaments in the States at this time of year obviously with Colonial and the Byron Nelson.
But you know, I think one thing you recognised from last night at the dinner, it's a world game now: You've got quality South Africans, two Major Champions, Northern Irishman and a German. That's a pretty good spread; a Korean winning The Players Championship a few weeks ago. The game is global and you have to accept that; you have to travel around and test yourself in different places.

Q. What does it say about American golf that you caught a lot of flak for not going to Sawgrass yet none of them come to The European Tour?
LEE WESTWOOD: You make of that what you will. I would like to play in THE PLAYERS Championship but it's pretty much out of my hand. The rules over there, you know, dictated to me where I could play. So that was just one of those things, but that's gone now and it was a good tournament. Watched a bit of it Sunday on TV. It was an exciting finish. It's a tournament I would like to play in in the future.

Q. You've played around the world and in Asia where the game is growing and you've said that is part of your role as being a top golfer.
LEE WESTWOOD: I enjoy playing around the world and I've done that for 18 or 19 years now and I'll continue to do that.

Q. Do you feel though that last week there were more World Ranking points at the Match Play than there were at the Crowne Plaza in the States and I would imagine there are more World Ranking points this week than whatever is going on in the States. Ultimately, surely that will start making the American players travel because they don't like the fact that the World Rankings are starting to skew towards Europe and the rest of the world?
LEE WESTWOOD: We'll find out, won't we. That occurs a few times during the year now: Last week, this week, Barclays Scottish Open I think probably does, as well, events in Asia at the end of the year. There are opportunities to travel around the world and earn World Ranking points and there are opportunities to travel around because a lot of the tournaments have Top-50 in the world exemptions, so you can get into those tournaments without being a number. You just have to see if in the future that there's a few that take that opportunity up.

Q. Do you feel that there's a move within the states that is now saying, well, we don't like the fact that these World Ranking points are being distributed so well outside the U.S., that they are going to start pushing for the system to be changed.
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't play enough in the U.S. to be able to formulate an opinion on that and I don't read enough about -- and I don't speak to them enough to know how they think. You would have to ask them that.

Q. Entirely different subject. Martin was in yesterday and he talked about the golf that Luke played last week when he beat Martin, and he said he had never seen anybody better and he mentioned a round you played in a warm up to The Ryder Cup last year. Do you remember the one he's talking about?
LEE WESTWOOD: No.

Q. He mentioned he was totally impressed by that particular round. Wondering if it stood out in your mind?
LEE WESTWOOD: Ah, no. (Laughter).
Practise round, no pressure on, it's a different thing to play in, and Luke is obviously playing very consistently and very well at the moment. And he obviously likes match play, as well. So it was no surprise to see him play well last week. The greens were immaculate, as well and one of Luke's strengths is his putting. So he was always going to be a tough man to beat around there. And so too, Ian, that's why they were in the final.

Q. Martin Kaymer yesterday said when he was No. 1 in the world, that he found it very difficult with the added pressure and the demands have made it difficult for him. Are you used to being No. 1 now in the world and do you feel added pressure and people want more time of you?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, people do demand more of your time, and you have to be very wary of what you say at certain times, as well, and how you act. So you have to be on your guard a little bit more. There's a lot more to do.
And obviously when you turn up to a tournament, and you're the best player there, then there's a certain added pressure to that. I suppose a slight responsibility in the back of your mind to put on a show and play well. I can understand where he's coming from. But the longer you are at No. 1, the easier it gets, no doubt about that.

Q. Is there a difference being 1 or 2, does that make a difference?
LEE WESTWOOD: Massive difference, yeah.

Q. Some of your comments about your defeat to Poults last week didn't appear overly generous on Twitter, wonder if he had something to say --
LEE WESTWOOD: I didn't make any comments on Twitter.

Q. You didn't.
LEE WESTWOOD: No, I didn't.

Q. Something about he's not going to hit it brilliant. But anyway, whatever.
LEE WESTWOOD: No, that was an interview I did. And if you look at SKY TV the night before, when I got interviewed by Tim Barter, it's all on film there, where he asked me, and I said, you know, you know when you're going to play Ian, certainly when I -- talking about myself, when I play Ian, I'm going to probably be further down the fairway than him and hit more greens than him, but he's a battler and scrapper and he's going to get up-and-down from everywhere.

Q. I did see that.
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah? And that's the way it was written.

Q. Yeah, yeah.
LEE WESTWOOD: I saw the report --

Q. Did you?
LEE WESTWOOD: -- on The European Tour website, and I was none too impressed with the way it was written up.

Q. Oh, yeah, that's where I saw it. But I wondered if it --
LEE WESTWOOD: But I didn't put it out on Twitter. That was my words. But it was out there. They were interpreted by whoever chose to write the article in a negative way and try and stir something up, when there was nothing to stir up -- sorry, if you'll let me finish Kevin.

Q. I get what you're saying.
LEE WESTWOOD: And, all I'm going say is the following day in the match, if you analyse the match and see how it all turned out, I was right.

Q. Well, but --
LEE WESTWOOD: Wasn't I?

Q. But you said, he doesn't hit it that great. Not just on the day; he doesn't. Don't you stand by that? He doesn't hit it that great?
LEE WESTWOOD: Generalising, compared to me tee-to-green, what I meant was, he wouldn't hit it as good as me tee-to-green. I would dominate the match tee-to-green.
But what you have to accept when you are playing with Ian is, he's a battler, a scrapper, brilliant at match play. He feels like he's never out of a hole, and he's going to get up-and-down from everywhere. That's his strength. I was actually paying him a backhanded compliment really.

Q. But you didn't qualify the sentence. You just said, 'he doesn't hit it that great?'
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I didn't mean it like that.

Q. That wasn't the point. I was just going to ask you --
LEE WESTWOOD: You're butting it in a bit there, aren't you.

Q. Question I was leading up to, am I going to get to, did Poults actually respond to that? He reads everything, doesn't he, did he ask you about that?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. We were chatting about it last night. We were laughing and joking about it.

Q. Do you think you regret saying, framing it in that kind of way? Do you think your words were ill-chosen?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really.

Q. Not really, don't you think it was a bit graceless?
LEE WESTWOOD: It wasn't graceless at all. I paid him a compliment. It just wasn't written up like that.

Q. Well, the words are in quotation marks. I mean, it wasn't a compliment to say he doesn't hit it that well.
LEE WESTWOOD: No, but I didn't mean it like that (laughing).

Q. Do you think it was ill-phrased?
LEE WESTWOOD: Probably ill-phrased it, yeah, but I just said how I expected the game to pan out, which was pretty accurate.
Well, it wasn't, wasn't it? Did you watch the match?

Q. Some of it. But the guy's just beat you, and you say, well, he doesn't hit it that well. That seems slightly graceless to some people. Just wonder if you thought that afterwards that's all?
LEE WESTWOOD: No. I was giving an appraisal of the game. Gave him credit. Stood on the last green and shook his hand and said well played. That's what he did. He's a great match player and you give him credit for that.
Listen, you guys ask for honesty most of the time, don't you?

Q. Absolutely.
LEE WESTWOOD: I'm not going to sit there and lie, am I. I'm going to tell you how I saw it, and that's just the way it was. Other days I'd have beaten him, but you know, he was better than me that day and got up when he needed to and took his chances when he needed to.

Q. Did he give you a ribbing afterwards? Didn't say anything disparaging, in the banter. That's what I was --
LEE WESTWOOD: We didn't have any banter because he had 20 minutes to go out and play.

Q. Last night, I mean.
LEE WESTWOOD: Oh, last night.

Q. He must have said something about your shirt last night.
LEE WESTWOOD: He dropped a couple in, yeah. Might have mentioned Harry Hill a few times.
But just the way we are. We're good mates. He gives it. I take it; I give it, he takes it. It's just one of those things. There's nothing more to it than that.
SCOTT CROCKETT: You happy now, Kevin?

Q. Dead happy?
SCOTT CROCKETT: Great news.

Q. Who is the best-ball striker in European golf and what would be a good age for you to retire?
LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know. I don't walk up and down around the range enough to check everybody else out. Alvaro Quiros springs to mind.
And talking about retirement, I don't know, whenever I'm not competitive anymore I guess.

Q. This week the forecast is for the wind to be very strong and around here, with the trees, it makes club selection very, very difficult. How important is it to have a good man on your bag, an experienced man on your bag?
LEE WESTWOOD: Very important. I think it's important to always have experience, whether it's the caddie or the player himself, it obviously helps to you know play the golf course.
Having said that, it's changed, characteristics of the golf course have changed over the last two, three years, so it's not the golf course it was in 2006 or 2007. It plays a lot differently.
So you're going to need to -- more than anything, you're going to need to control your ball flight, keep it under the trees occasionally or fly it in or spin it in. It's a really good test now.
I think Ernie was given a mandate to make the golf course tougher and he's achieved that. Just look at the scores that won the tournament over the last few years to see that it's a difficult test out there now. And this golf course has always played hard when it's blown.

Q. What's your thoughts on France getting The Ryder Cup in 2018, and do you see it as a playing opportunity or an opportunity for captaincy, and how is your French?
LEE WESTWOOD: Not great. I think I'm really pleased for France that they got it. They have been great supporters of The European Tour, and The French Open is one of the best events on The European Tour, well attended. The golf course itself sets up for Ryder Cup. It's a great finish. It will be fairly nerve-wracking as a player coming down those last few holes.
And hopefully, you know, I'll still be playing. When is it, 2018? Seven years, 45. Dale's retired me off by then I think.

Q. World Match Play aside, this venue hasn't been exactly the happiest hunting ground for you, can you explain why that is?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I've been second in 2000. I've had a few Top-10s.

Q. Just recently it's been a bit different. Is it anything about the place?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, I actually love playing the golf course. I don't know why I haven't -- I suppose what you say it's not happy hunting ground, you're saying I haven't won. I'm not sure.
I played well, but just not put four good rounds together in the last few years. One round has let me down here or there. I don't know what I finished last year -- I don't think I was too far off the winning score. I think I was about level or 1-under and 6-under one, so five shots over four rounds is not far off.
But just I haven't had that blitz during a round where I've made five birdies and seven holes or something like that to really get some momentum going.

Q. I can't remember you blowing up like your stablemate, Rory, did in Augusta, but what would be your advice to him? How do you get over a massive disappointment like that?
LEE WESTWOOD: I mean, it's tricky. Depends what kind of person you are, which way you look at it, whether you look at it as blowing up and take that as a real negative; or that you've got into a good position and things maybe didn't quite go for you at the right times.
But you can learn from that, analyse what you did wrong, or maybe a shot that you didn't feel comfortable with. I must admit, nine holes to go, I fancied he was going to win it.
Having said that, I played with Rory a lot and he used to look comfortable shaping it right-to-left, and I asked him afterwards and he said his shots turned into a fade, his normal shots. Maybe he's worked on stuff that doesn't allow him to hit that big shot right-to-left whenever he needs it now.
But I think he's sensible enough and level-headed enough and young enough to block it out and learn from it, and he'll be in that position again shortly, I would imagine, and he'll do things differently.

Q. Could it leave mental scars?
LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it could do, but that just depends on the individual. You know what their thought processes are, how strong they are mentally. But only time will tell that.

Q. Just to follow up, are there any other golf courses like that where you just can't explain?
LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, there's a few during the year: Doral, I always play that golf course, and I think I love this golf course, this is really going to suit me and the best I've done is 18th. There's a few.

Q. But they are not all of a similar type?
LEE WESTWOOD: No, very different. Sometimes you just can't explain it. There's no reason for it. Just one of those things. Like this one, why play it well in September or October in the World Match Play and make umpteen birdies and then come here in May and your best finish is second. It's a tough one to explain. Golf, I suppose that's why golf is great. Sometimes you just can't put your finger on it.

Q. Going back to Rory and the comment you made about his tendency to pull-hook under pressure, referring to the 10th, did he ever respond to that?
LEE WESTWOOD: Don't remember saying that. When did I say that?

Q. Thought you said that in the immediate aftermath of the final round of the Masters?
LEE WESTWOOD: Did I?

Q. Yeah.
LEE WESTWOOD: I can't remember saying that. I don't really know, just giving an explanation there where I said whenever I played with him in the past, I used to look at him and think he's going to be comfortable and he's going to be great around Augusta and he's going to be able to sling it around the corner on 10 and 13 and 14 as well. That felt like a shot that he was comfortable playing.
But then all of a sudden standing an the range at Old Palm or somewhere like that, and he said to me, you know, generally I hit a fade now. So it's just obviously something that changes.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Thanks very much for your time as always. Good luck this week.

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