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WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 6, 2012Lee WestwoodMIAMI, FLORIDA PAUL SYMES: Thanks very much for joining us, Lee. LEE WESTWOOD: Pleasure. PAUL SYMES: Last round was a 63, that gives you a pretty good platform to build on. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I played well all week last week. A little bit sort of scratchy the first day, but after that, struck the ball really well. Gave myself a lot of chances, and on Sunday, I just took a few. That was basically the difference. PAUL SYMES: Not sure you're if aware, but you're making you're 40th WGC event appearance this week. LEE WESTWOOD: Did you get me a cake? PAUL SYMES: We're working on it. LEE WESTWOOD: I wasn't aware. Don't keep count. PAUL SYMES: Most of any Tour member in history. LEE WESTWOOD: Is it? PAUL SYMES: Yeah, it is. Nice milestone for you. LEE WESTWOOD: There you go. Just shows you I'm getting old, basically, doesn't it (laughing). PAUL SYMES: They are obviously big events. You must enjoy playing in them. LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I do. Obviously the major championships, the World Golf Championships, the players and the PGA at Wentworth are the biggest events of the year. So yeah, it's nice. They get a great field together. I think it's the Top‑50 in the world together for the first time in a long time this week, as well. They are great tournaments and they are all right, but it's even more special when it's as good a field as you can get, basically. PAUL SYMES: Nice pairing for you tomorrow, playing with Luke and Rory, as well. Looking forward to that? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, they did that last year I think for the top three in the World Rankings. So it's good to be bunched in that group. It means you're maintaining your ranking; you're still in the top three. Either way it doesn't really matter. I got drawn with Tiger last week and had a good time. We had a laugh together. I'm sure it will be the same with Luke and Rory. I get on well with both of them. Q. I'd like to talk to you about the par 3s on the back nine. 13 is the longest par 3 on the course. How do you approach that? Do you just try to escape from that? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I think the 13th on this course is probably one of the worst par 3s I've ever played I think. No, seriously. I just think it's a really poor par 3. Needs changing somehow. I think it's a long par 3. The back of the green slopes away. So it's one of them you try and land it short on the fringe; if it's downwind in bermuda rough, it either stops dead or it bounces forward and it runs off the back. I think they are on about changing that one, so that would definitely agree with me. So you just try to play it and get out of there with a three. I think if you offered most people a three there every day this week, they would take it. The 15th is a really nice par 3. Unfortunately it's been vandalized this week. But it's a nice, mid‑range par 3, sort of 7‑, 8‑iron, 6, I suppose if it turns into the wind. Traps at front and the back. Quite a narrow green at front and back, so your distance control has to be good. And I suppose you've got to be fairly accurate, as well. They took the flag away on the right there, or on the left, so you want to be in that section of the green if at all possible. Q. What have they done to the 15th? How have they vandalized? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it's had petrol poured on it. Some sad people about, aren't there. Q. Do you like this place? Your record's not great here. LEE WESTWOOD: It wouldn't be one of my favorites, but there's no reason why I'm not going into this week confident and positive and trying to like it. I have improved last year, I think that was my best‑ever performance. I've always struggled on the greens, but having found a bit of form on Sunday last week, then I'm quite hopeful for this week. There's no reason why I shouldn't putt well. I think I'm going to probably figure the grain out today and tomorrow, and tee‑to‑green, it ought to suit me. There's a premium on hitting fairways, because you get lots of flyers from this type of rough, and the greens are firm. So you need to be coming out of the fairway as often as possible. Q. I saw some discoloration on the 18th; were any other greens messed with and how will that impact how they will play 15? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know what the reason‑‑ they seem to have re‑turfed a lot of areas on the greens. So I think they have had a wet winter or something, they were saying to me (shrugging shoulders. ) Can't be helped I guess. It's in pretty good condition other an the vandalism to the 15th green and the few bits that have been re‑turfed. The fairways are in good condition. Q. Does that take away pin placements for 15? LEE WESTWOOD: I think it probably will. They are going to be dictated to really by where the petrol was not poured on. I think there's probably three spots, basically, where they can have flags; will have to double up on one day on one of the undamaged areas. Q. The sheer consistency that you, Luke and Rory are demonstrating, do you think there's an opportunity now really for you to pull clear of the rest, out of the cluster of the three of you; that you are in a class apart at the moment? LEE WESTWOOD: There is a bit of a gap when you look at the World Rankings isn't there, there's a couple of points between me and fourth. There's not a lot between me and Rory in points. So I wouldn't say there's a massive gap between us and the rest of the world rankings, but there's a slight gap. Q. Is there a feeling that you're kind of pushing each other on with all being sort of British compatriots? LEE WESTWOOD: I think that's been the state of European golf for a few years. Since Pádraig, I suppose started winning major championships in 2007, 2008, that sort of spurs everyone else on. People have had periods where they have played well. Martin won a major obviously, and Rory has. It encourages everybody else to work hard and try and attain that level. But, you know, it's exciting at the moment for golf. Tiger showed a bit of form last week. I played with him three days and seemed to get better as the week went on and obviously got dramatically better on the last day. Probably influence of getting away from me; probably felt intimidated, didn't he, the first three rounds. (Laughter). That's exciting for golf. You want the likes of Tiger and Phil Mickelson playing well and Rory playing well and at the top of the World Rankings. It's good for the viewing figures and good for the viewing public and it's good for the players, because it creates a hype and excitement around the game. Q. What's the hardest part of staying at No. 1? LEE WESTWOOD: Being in media rooms and answering daft questions, really. (Laughter). Q. Like that one? LEE WESTWOOD: There's nothing hard about being No. 1 in the world, no. If you don't enjoy that, then‑‑ Q. How about staying there? LEE WESTWOOD: ‑‑ then you need to take up another sport. Staying there? Q. Yeah. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, me and Luke were talking about it on the putting green today. I said, "Oh, morning, No.2." And he looked at me and nodded. And he said, "Yeah, it's sort of a bit of a relief." He said, "There's only one way to go when you're No. 1. At least there's more than one way to go at No.2." And Billy said, "Yeah, No. 5."   (Laughter). So, you know, you're at the top there and everybody shoots at you but I think that's the position you want to be in. You want the position that everybody is envious of. Q. Harder to stay there than to get there? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think so. It's pretty hard to get there. Q. You mentioned Phil and Tiger both reviving their games. Does the Masters shape up as maybe one of the most exciting in a long time? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't know. I think the Masters is pretty exciting every year. You know, there seems to be a story or something going around that gets everybody going. I can't think of a boring Masters that I've ever watched. But obviously if there are a lot of guys all playing well all going into it, it hypes it up and it's even more exciting, I suppose, to the outside world looking in. Q. To you? LEE WESTWOOD: The Masters is exciting every year. I look forward to the Masters from the moment it finishes the previous year. It's one of them tournaments you want to be involved in. It's one of them places with charm and the character that you want to come back, and it's a special tournament and one that I want to win. So you know, the years that go by where I don't win it, I'm looking forward to the next one. Q. Are you going to Augusta before? LEE WESTWOOD: No. Am I going this year? No, I'm going to give it a miss this year. The course changes so dramatically from even the Monday before the tournament to the Thursday that going two weeks before, really‑‑ I've done all my preparation. It doesn't change each year, the golf course, very much. So you know, I've had my couple of years where I've gone two weeks before and gone around it with no crowds there and stuff, and picked out things that I needed to know. So I'm just going to go straight from Houston and play 36 holes over three days in the lead up to the tournament. Q. Is Augusta one of those courses where if you're a young pro and you haven't attended much, you kind of need to go two weeks ahead of time but when you get to veteran status, then you cannot attend or not go early and‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I get what you're saying. That's why you don't get many first‑time winners there. It's the kind of course that you need to learn. You can hit a great shot there and think, well, that's good, I can hit a nice easy chip there. And you get down there and then you think, God, how can I get this up‑and‑down. It's that kind of place. Two, three yards can make a massive difference. So, yeah, experience plays a massive part around there. Q. What's your strongest memory of Tiger's Masters win in'97, and what do you think that did for golf? LEE WESTWOOD: What can I remember? I remember going out in 40 and back in 30. That's probably the most memorable thing. That's where he won the tournament, coming back in 30 on the second nine. Q. How does your short game compare to when you first went to Augusta? Do you feel there are shots that you can play now that you just wouldn't have been able to play maybe when you first went there? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's much better. It's much more reliable and solid. If anywhere is going to show short game frailties, it's Augusta really. Myself and Tiger were discussing it last week, and we were saying that the short game around there has changed quite a bit over the last few years. It used to be that there wasn't a lot of grass around the greens. You know, you could almost see the earth through the grass. So you very rarely pulled out a sand wedge or a lob wedge around the greens. You were running it up and trying to‑‑ you would putt from a long way off the green. Now you're more likely to get up there and have a bit more grass under your ball and be able to spin it with a lob‑wedge or sand iron, and it won't run through that stuff as easy anymore. So you can't bumble on through or putt from a good distance off the green. So the short game has changed there in recent years. Q. Wondering whether there was any short answer to what went right on Sunday after three days of hitting it‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I gave it to you about five minutes ago I think. Q. Oh, did you? I got here about four minutes ago. LEE WESTWOOD: I played lovely the first three days and lovely the last day, but the first three days I didn't hole any putts and then I sat there, took my chances, I took a few chances on the Sunday. That's the short answer. And that's the way it is with me at the moment. I had something click with me on the Saturday night on the putting green with Phil and Pete, and started rolling the ball on the line that I was picking out. You know, that makes a massive difference when you're putting, when you start seeing the ball start on the line you've selected. That, in turn, breeds confidence, and I started rolling the ball at the hole faster and more putts had a good chance. Some of the best putts I hit on Sunday were ones that missed. I struck them so pure and well that they went through the break. But at least they were running at the hole for a change. Q. You've been kind of hit and miss around here, fair to say, had some good results? LEE WESTWOOD: Around here? Q. Doral. LEE WESTWOOD: Miss. Not been much hitting, no‑‑ well, actually there's been a lot of hitting. That's been the problem. (Laughing). Q. Any short answer for that? It's pretty flat and pretty right in front of you? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I don't know. I've always struggled a bit on the greens, given myself lots of chances, and battled with the greens for a few years. But I think these are pretty similar to last week, so hopefully I can pick up from Sunday where I left off. I think my short game improvements will obviously help a little bit around this golf course, too. PAUL SYMES: Thanks again, Lee, play well this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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