|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSICFebruary 7, 2012Lee WestwoodDUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES SARAH GWYNN: Thank you very much for coming in this morning. LEE WESTWOOD: Pleasure. Q. And welcome back to Dubai. LEE WESTWOOD: Thank you. Q. You had a pretty decent start to the season.  Just sum up the year so far for you in the past two tournaments. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, decent. Good for me. I've normally missed a cut by now, and thrown in a 60th place finish or something like that. 17th I think it was in Abu Dhabi and 12 last week. So pretty steady start. I'd say if I was making an appraisal of the first couple of weeks, I've hit it a lot better than I normally do. Short game is a little bit sharper than normal. Putts are quite nice, starting to roll a few longer ones in. But just been sloppy, just early season sloppiness really, making too many bogeys and not making birdie when I should; and wedge shots haven't been quite as sharp as they ought to have been, not as close. So that's the reason I've been sort of in the position I've been in. SARAH GWYNN: You've got a good record in this tournament. You came close a couple of years ago, but not won it. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. I finished second a couple of times. It's obviously a place I like coming and playing. I love this golf course. I think it's a good test, and you get what you deserve around it. It's usually in great condition. I don't think this year is any exception. And they have a good field, and the weather is pretty predictable. It's a nice place to come play early season. SARAH GWYNN: And nice to be back in Dubai? Is it a place you enjoy coming? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I came and practiced here three weeks ago. So last week of a four‑week trip. And this is where I was practicing for Abu Dhabi and Qatar, so nice to be back here and be competitive. SARAH GWYNN: Good. Do we have any questions? Q. What is it about this course that you particularly like? LEE WESTWOOD: Normally they grow the rough up a little bit. They got the greens firm, so it puts a bit of a demand on hitting the fairways. There's a bit of breeze out there. It's just a fair golf course. There's nothing tricky about the fairways. You come across a couple of them, but normally they're pretty flat. I've always found it a fair golf course. Q. Often we write about you and Rory and guys like that, but the first two weeks we got Rock and then we got Paul on Sunday. So what does it say about the tour that guys that either haven't been heard from in a long time or up‑and‑comers are winning the tournaments early on? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it shows the strength of the European Tour. We're very strong right now. Like Robert has always looked a good player. It's just a case of knuckling down and putting his mind to it, it seems with him, and he's got obviously a very good game. And he seems like the kind of player that, you know, once he gets the knack of winning will win quite a bit, and seems pretty fearless playing in the company that is around him, you know, as there was in Abu Dhabi. Paul is a major champion, and I think as hard as the course was in Qatar, it was windy the first couple of days. The good wind players you have to be as an Open champion. And he's won around there as well, so that was no real shock, putts well on grainy greens, putts well in the desert. You know, he won at the end of last year here on the earth course. So that pretty much sums it up, I guess. It seems that some people's games are suited to desert golf. You got Quiros that he's won in Dubai a few times, and Rory seems to have done well in the desert. So just one of those things, but I tell you, the strength in depth is the main thing. Q. Does that take pressure off you as an individual, rather than being the focus of attention every week in terms of you can just get on with your game? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't really think about it too much. I concentrate on my own game. I don't really pay much attention to what's going on around me. Q. I didn't have a chance to ask you after the last round you tweeted about the 16th. LEE WESTWOOD: It was a great birdie, wasn't it? Did you see it? Q. That's why I'm asking about it. The tweet referenced profanity, and I just wondered, is this something that is unusual in golf or why did you feel the need to go to the twitter verse and apologize for it? LEE WESTWOOD: My mom was the first person on the phone, and she said, you might want to apologize. Q. Oh, really? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah. Q. What was the reaction you got from ‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD:  I didn't think it formed a part at that stage of being on TV. It's amazing how sensitive these microphones are. Q. What was the shot that you played? LEE WESTWOOD: Came off a bit quick, and I thought it was going to go long. It nearly went in. That tells you what I know. Q. What was the choice word you used? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't think it needs repeating, does it? I think there are worse words, actually. Q. (Inaudible)? LEE WESTWOOD: It's always a strange situation because, you know, you kind of need confidence to play well. But obviously good play breeds that confidence. So it's strange what comes first. So you sort of have to build up from square one again and get used to seeing good shots coming off the club face and going where you want. I guess that then builds up the confidence. I think it's sort of being built, that winning habit, people have either got it or they haven't. When they get into contention they feel comfortable with it and carry on and where Paul has proved many occasions, and it was no real surprise when he was leading last week to see him come out and shoot the best round of the day, wasn't it, along with somebody else. So that's generally what natural winners do. I actually didn't realize he'd been playing that poorly. I thought he'd been playing quite consistently and showing quite a lot of form over the last few years. I think he won in Spain last year and had a few close calls, so he's not been far away. Just a matter of time really of getting on a golf course that he liked and in conditions that he plays well it. SARAH GWYNN: Any more? Lee, thanks very much for coming in. Good luck for the week. LEE WESTWOOD: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|