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DUBAI WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY DP WORLDDecember 6, 2011Lee WestwoodDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES GORDON SIMPSON: Well, Lee, it's great to see you back in the winner's enclosure at the weekend and obviously back here at Jumeirah Golf Estates where you also know a little bit about winning, The Race to Dubai and the Dubai World Championship. What's your form like coming into here after that round on Saturday, particularly? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, form's pretty good. GORDON SIMPSON: Could be worse. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, could be worse. That's about as good as I've ever played I think. 62 around there was quite a good score. GORDON SIMPSON: Wasn't too shabby the last round here in 2009. LEE WESTWOOD: 64 around here was good as well. I think 62 on Saturday was a bit better. Can't recall missing a shot. I hit 6‑iron about three yards left of where I was aiming on 12. That was about it. You know, of the times I finished 20 feet from the flag, it was because I was aiming 20 feet from the flag. Yeah, that was great. Nice to win and nice to defend. GORDON SIMPSON: And one of these rounds don't come around very often, do they. LEE WESTWOOD: It's nice when you click into that kind of gear where your mind is in the right place, you're calm, and your swing feels good and you're on auto pilot, really. It was nice to come in here with that kind of form and come back to a golf course that, like I say, I finished first and third at, had a chance to win last year. It's good to be back. I always play pretty well in Dubai and looking forward to this week. GORDON SIMPSON: How does the course shape up compared to the other years? LEE WESTWOOD: It feels a bit tougher. They have grown the rough up in certain places. It feels like it's playing a bit longer out there, as well, and I think there's as much run on the fairways, but it's immaculate. The tees are perfect, the fairways are perfect and the greens are perfect. So if you play well, I think it's still very scorable and no excuses. Q. When you and Rory went head‑to‑head here, did you exploit his inexperience a little bit at the time, and how do you think he's changed now as he tries to close out the Race against Luke? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think I exploited his inexperience. I used my experience. You know, maybe that was exploiting his experience a little bit, but, it's part of the game really, isn't it. I didn't jump out and put him off or anything like that. And he's obviously more experienced now. He's got two years of extra competitiveness playing under his belt I suppose, and he did well to win last week and give himself a chance going into this event; because I think if he didn't win, he wouldn't have a chance. I think the ball is still in Luke's court. It's always difficult when you have to win to actually do it. Q. Are you interested in spectating what's happening this week? LEE WESTWOOD: I think anybody who enjoys golf and enjoys watching golf likes to see the season‑ending event go down to the wire. You don't want a foregone conclusion. It's nice to see two people battling it out where somebody could have a putt to win both and win the Money List and the tournament. Q. It was a great weekend of golf‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Thank you. Q. Three great winners. Not you. LEE WESTWOOD: You want a good answer for this question, do you. (Laughter). Q. Just how excited are you about next year? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, very excited. Not only with my form, the way I'm playing. I think if I can finish off the season well and strongly and take this form into next year, then obviously I'll be excited about the start of next year. You know, obviously Tiger getting back into the winner's enclosure is great for golf, as well. I think everybody likes to see the best players in the world playing well, and Tiger has been one of those, that kind of player, and might well get back there. Starting to play well again is the first start of that process, and then you build over time. Q. How do you rate this season from the eyes of The European Tour, as The Race to Dubai? And how important do you think this sort of amount of prize money is to the event? Does it have to be that sort of figure for it to be what it is, or is there going to be a time with this recession that you can see maybe prize money dropping. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think golf's been very lucky that it has not dropped significantly. We've lost a few tournaments but I think we have been quite fortunate to hang on to the ones we have got. I don't know if the prize money has gone up, I don't think so, but obviously that's a great bonus and we are lucky to be playing for that. But I think if you ask the two lads at the top of the rankings this week with a chaps to win, they are not thinking about a bonus. They are thinking more about winning the actual Order of Merit, the title, rather than the cash. But you can say that, because we are all in a fortunate position, the guys that are up there, because we earn a lot of money and we can afford to think that way. But when you look at it, it's an amazing amount of money for doing what you enjoy. What was the first part of your question? Oh, has it been a good year for The European Tour? Yeah, I think it's been a great year for The European Tour, successful, just over a year ago in The Ryder Cup. All the top players have played pretty well this year, been successful in the major championships, the Members of The European Tour. So I think, yeah, it's been a very good year. I think that's part of the reason why the money has not dropped. I don't want to say we give value for money, because we are playing for a lot of money, but it's certainly a good brand and a good product, The European Tour, at the moment. Q. How do you look back at your own season as you come to the end of 2011? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I play to such a high standard now with the one glaring omission of a Major Championship that people are always going to rate my years on Major Championships. I played all right at the Masters; putted badly, finished 11th. Played okay at the U.S. Open; finished third. Led tee‑to‑greens in regulation at The Open, missed the cut. Finished Top‑10 at the PGA Championship. My putting has not been as good as I would have liked it. Proof of that was really last week. If I had a week where I putt and hole my fair share, I'm leading by seven going into the final round. If I have a week where I just putt okay, I have a chance of winning. And if I have a week where I don't put very good at all, it seems like I finish 10th to 20th. That really shows the level where my game is at. I would have liked to had a few better results this year and won a few more times. Q. I was going to ask you, you've won the European No. 1 title before, how impressive would it be for Luke to win the title in Europe and on the PGA Tour, and is it something you thought could be done, winning on both sides of the Atlantic? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I would think it could be done. We play so many co‑sanctioned events now that are events that count on both Money Lists; it's more possible now than it ever has been. But if he does do it, it would be an incredible achievement. Why he's likely to win both Money Lists, it's because of the consistency he's shown all year. You put the telly on, and you know, he might not have had a chance to win, and then you look down at the results and he's finished third or fourth. You know, he's had a very, very consistent year and deserves to be world No. 1 at the end of it. Q. If you putt well in any given week, do you think anybody could beat you? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I think everybody's beatable. But they would have to play very well. The weeks that I've putted very well recently in the last couple of years that I can think of were here where I won by six, Nedbank last year where I won by eight, and I guess Nedbank again this year where I was leading by seven going into the last round. And you know, I just like to putt better more often really. That's just what I'm working on at the moment and it's improving. It seems to be improving. Felt a lot better last week, definitely turned the corner with Phil Kenyon. Q. Was the joining of PGA Tour a moment where you thought, yes, I'm going to do it or have you been mulling? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I've been mulling over it for a while thinking about it. It's not going to be that drastic a change to my schedule next year. It will just be around the time after the PGA Championship probably where instead of coming back and playing Switzerland, Holland, I'll go and play the FedExCup events. That's really what sort of changed my mind, sitting at home and watching a couple of those, and realising that I had never actually played in them and saw that they were big tournaments and just fancied a go really. Saw Luke could play well on both Money Lists, and fancied my chances at going over there and having a few good results and trying to play in those at the end of the year. Q. If The Ryder Cup is not sewn up with a week of qualifying to go, and you're in the middle of the FedEx, and if it doesn't count for The Ryder Cup‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: A lot of hypothetical things happening there, wasn't there (laughter). Can I use, 'We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.' (Laughter). GORDON SIMPSON: I think we are finished with that. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, we'll come back to that win, in September. Q. With the possibility of a great head‑to‑head between the best of The European Tour and Tiger Woods in Abu Dhabi, and obviously an iconic image with the fist‑pump and Tiger being back; do you think he just helps elevate everything to a different level really? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, he's the biggest name in golf, and probably one of the biggest names in world sports. So when he's playing well, then you know, you have a lot of people interested in it and obviously it draws a lot of attention to the event. That's why HSBC want him there, I would imagine. Q. If you did the vote for Sports Personality, who would you vote for? LEE WESTWOOD: This year? I'd vote for Darren. Q. Just give your reasons why. LEE WESTWOOD: Because he's my mate. (Laughter) Well, they all are, but Darren is my biggest, oldest mate. Definitely biggest. (Laughter). GORDON SIMPSON: I think that sounds like the perfect note to end on. Can't beat that quite honestly. Lee, thanks very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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