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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJuly 12, 2011Lee WestwoodSANDWICH, ENGLAND LYNN WALLACE: Ladies and gentlemen, we're joined by world No. 2 Lee Westwood. Thanks for joining us. You've had a couple of impressive finishes in the last two Opens here. What are your expectations this week? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, try not to have too many expectations. Just go out there and try my best, really. Hopefully it's a mathematical progression, third, second, obviously I'm hoping for a first. But we'll see. LYNN WALLACE: Can you give us your thoughts on the course. LEE WESTWOOD: I haven't played it this week, but I played it last Monday, and it looked good. Very fair, in great condition, ideal Open Championship weather today, I guess. It will be a good test, I think. Q. You didn't finish the way you would have wanted to at Inverness, but what positives were there from there, and what sort of preparation was it for this week? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think it was better than playing the week before maybe on Loch Lomond where it's not links golf, but obviously the wind didn't blow and they weren't the tightest of fairways last week, and obviously there were a lot of delays with the rain and stuff. So that could tire you out. But it was nice to play links golf the week before The Open and to play a few chip and runs and putt them up the greens and stuff like that. So it was all right. Q. For your own hopes, is it a case of the more wind, the better, as long as it's the same for everybody? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I mean, links golf is determined by the weather, so you don't want it flat calm. These golf courses are designed with, I guess, a 15, 20-miles-an-hour wind in mind, so you don't want it flat calm. You want it so -- well, I certainly want it so ball-striking is a prerequisite, really. And like you say, ideally you'd like it so it's the same morning and afternoon, but often that doesn't work out in links golf. It's the luck of the draw, really. If that doesn't happen, then you're hoping that you're on the right side of it. Q. Given all the famous bumps and bounces you can get out there, how much of a factor is patience going to be this week? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very much so. I think more than anywhere on The Open Championship rota, I think a couple of fairways out there which you can get bad breaks. I suppose you can get good breaks, as well, but I think at some point during the week you're going to need patience; it's going to be tested. But I've got plenty of that. Q. If you could express as a percentage where your form is at this point, where are you in relation to where you'd like to be? LEE WESTWOOD: I think my form is right where I'd like it to be. I've been playing well just recently and had a good stretch of results. Yeah, I think this is a week I look forward to all year round. So I try to gear my game up for this week. The form is pretty good. I'm happy with all aspects of my game. Q. With you and Luke both up there in the rankings and both going after that first major, just what would it mean to you guys, do you think or especially to you, to win here at this place, which means so much to English golf? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's nice. You know, it's named after St. George, I guess, so you can't get much more English than that, really. It's obviously being played in England, which only happens every now and again, and it's the biggest championship in the world as far as I'm concerned. You know, it would mean everything, really, to mean this championship. Q. A lot has been made of this drought the Americans are in with going five majors without winning. What's your thoughts on why a bit of a slump for the Americans? Just a cycle or -- LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's cyclical, yeah. We went through a period where there weren't many European players winning major championships or from the rest of the world, and a lot of American golfers were winning majors. I think it's just one of those things. I think that obviously when one or two players from a certain area start winning majors, it inspires and brings on everybody else from that area, which could be said of Pádraig winning two or three years ago since he started winning majors, and there seem to be a few people that have stepped up. So I think that has something to do with it, but other than that I don't see much reason. Nothing I can put my finger on, other than European and the rest of the world golf is very strong at the moment. There's a lot of world-class players, and that's reflected in the World Rankings, obviously. Q. When you were growing up, would you have played a lot of links golf? And is that an advantage for you or someone from England, or is that overstated, given that you don't play a lot of it in pro tournaments these days? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, we don't play a lot of it now. Maybe three times a year, which is more than, say, American golfers or people playing on the PGA TOUR would play it. They probably only play it once. We play the Dunhill Links at the end of the year and then obviously the Scottish Open last week and then this. We might play a links style course in Holland or Belgium. But certainly growing up I played a lot of links golf. A lot of the boys' championships and English amateurs we played and our winter nationals we played on links golf courses. I played a fair share of Leven Gold Medals and stuff like that on links golf courses. So you tend to find that you learn a lot when you're young, and if you're brought up on that style of golf course it stays with you, the knack of playing it. Q. Speaking to a lot of the players, they love the golf course. I wonder what you think of the golf course, and can you tell me why you think what you think. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I like the golf course. You know, there are a few places where you accept where you're going to get bad breaks, but you get good breaks, as well. Strategically it's a good golf course. You have to plan your way around it. It's not always driver off every tee, which is quite nice. Downwind there will be a few 5-irons or 6-irons off tees out there, but at the same point if the wind gets up, the green might become drivable on those holes. So it makes you think constantly and adapt to the situation. The roughs seem pretty fair. I think because you do get a few freaky bounces out there because the fairways are a bit undulating, I'm thinking of 13 and 17 because they've not gone silly with the rough this year. I think climactic conditions in the last two, three months have determined that, as well. It's been tough to grow the rough up too long. But it just seems to be a nice height where you can get a shot, but the flier was in the equation out there. Q. (No microphone.) LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think so. I think there's no excuses out there. Q. What are your main memories of your amateur win here? And whereabouts in your career were you at the time when you did that? LEE WESTWOOD: 1992 was it? I remember it being very windy, and I played well. That's about it, really. (Laughter.) Q. Was that your first time here? LEE WESTWOOD: That was, yeah, and I think that year for some reason they played next door's 36-hole tournament around here, as well. I think because they were having the English Amateur they were doing a bit of course redesign or preparations, and they played here, as well. I won on Saturday and Sunday that weekend. Q. Do you still have the trophy? LEE WESTWOOD: I think my mom has got it. She's got most of the amateur ones. My name is on the board, though, which is nice. Q. Does an English Open Championship feel that little bit more special than a Scottish Open Championship? And for all Graeme and Rory's success, is it time to strike a blow for England specifically? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I think this is just a very special championship. It doesn't really mean any more that it's being played in England. I consider myself British, I suppose, and they're always played in Britain. You know, any Open Championship is a very special one. And looking at Rory and Graeme, you know, winning U.S. Opens, obviously I'd like to get in that group and win a major championship. Q. But is there a sense of the history going back to an English winner of a major championship? LEE WESTWOOD: No, not really. I tend not to look at history anymore, just get on with what I need to do and be prepared to play well on that particular week. Q. Further to your comment about having bags of patience, have you reached your prime yet as a golfer, or should we be a bit more patient in waiting for your promise to translate into a major championship? LEE WESTWOOD: I have no idea. I don't really rate it anymore. People would have said I was coming into my prime ten years ago and then I dropped to 270th in the world, so what's the point in guessing whether you're at your prime or not? I don't particularly think it's an age thing, either. I think so many players play well into their early to mid-40s just recently that there's no point in thinking about it. Q. Is age irrelevant in your view? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it depends how fit you keep yourself and how mentally up for it you are. You know, you've got to want it still. I think that's the main thing. Q. I think Monty made some comments before the U.S. Open that you might only have two or three more years left to crack it. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I played with him on Sunday last week and wound him up about that. It depends how physically able you are, and I'm obviously a finely tuned athlete that can go on well into my 40s, I think (laughing). Q. You had a bad experience last week with rain delays in Scotland. Are you afraid for rain delays over here? LEE WESTWOOD: No, it never rains in England, only Scotland. (Laughter.) It is what it is. I hate using that term. (Slaps side of head.) If it rains, we just have to deal with it and stick it out. Q. I think last week Ben Curtis was asked where he rated St. George's, and he said he played in seven Open venues -- LEE WESTWOOD: He probably said it was his favourite. Q. No, he said it was fifth out of seven. Is that a sign that it's not everyone's cup of tea? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's mentally frustrating out there. I think that's why people either like or dislike it. I would have said that he ought to love it, but that's his opinion, and fine. Q. Where would you rank it? LEE WESTWOOD: This week I'd rank it No. 1. You've got to love it and get on with it. There's no point in coming to a golf course and saying, I don't like this place. You can mentally get in your own way straightaway there. Q. Can you talk about your preparation for this week. Obviously you said you haven't even been on the golf course yet, at least this week. Can you talk about your preparation and why you took that course. LEE WESTWOOD: I played 18 holes last Monday, took quite a while to get around and just feel the golf course out. And then obviously played the Scottish Open last week. I had a day off yesterday, which I had always got planned but even seemed more of a sensible idea considering how long last week turned into. I felt like it, and I wanted to get here and just take it easy, do this, get it out of the way and then just have a couple of days or an afternoon into tomorrow getting used to the golf course and just playing everything sort of low key. I'll play 18 this afternoon. I'm playing about 3:30 and just have a wander around and get used to playing in a strong wind and get a feel for the golf course. You tend to find that most people get carried away at Open Championships first thing in the morning, practice too much, and then there's nobody on the golf course at 3:30, 4:00. It's the best time to play. Hopefully come Sunday I will be teeing off about that time or maybe just a fraction earlier, so you want to be playing it with a view to how it's going to be for the rest of the week. LYNN WALLACE: Thanks for joining us, Lee. Good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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