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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 22, 2013Lee WestwoodVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND SARAH GWYNN: Lee, thank you very much for joining us, welcome back to Wentworth. It's your first time back in the U.K. for a while, I believe, so how are you finding it? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, first time back in England since October. So, yeah, it's nice to be back. Nice to play a tournament in England. We don't get an opportunity very often, so I suppose it's nice in a way that the Flagship Event of The European Tour is in England and back here at Wentworth, hopefully to play well, carry on the form that I've got going and go one better than two years ago where I lost in the playoff. SARAH GWYNN: And touching on that, you've got a great record here, you must enjoy coming back. LEE WESTWOOD: I do, yeah. I enjoy coming back to England and playing in front of the home crowd. It's special to play in front of home fans and like I say, I especially around somewhere like Wentworth where it's iconic and the tournament is held here every year; the PGA Championship is associated with here, and you know, there's a familiarity about the place with all of the players. It's like I suppose coming home and you just want to put on a good show this week and make the Tour look good. Q. On the heels of last night, what was your take on Sergio's comment, andobviously you know Tiger very well ‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: At least you didn't beat around the bush. Great, isn't it. Q. Obviously you know Tiger very well. How do you think he will take that? LEE WESTWOOD: I don't think he'll be particularly bothered. I didn't hear what he said to be perfectly honest. But you know, it's justan awkward situation where they just obviously don't get on. You know, you guys all stoke it up as much you can and sometimes you don't need to. One of those things. Not really any of my business. I fortunately get on well with both of them. But I have no interest in getting in the middle of that relationship, if there is one. Q. The remark was fried‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: You didn't hear what I said then. Said I had no interest in getting in the middle of that relationship. There is no follow‑up to that answer. Can we move on to the beard? (Laughter). Q. In a bit. LEE WESTWOOD: In a bit, okay. Q. But the remark was about fried chicken, wasn't it‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Well, if he invites me around, I'll be straight down there. McGregor has not let me eat fried chicken for three or four years because it goes straight on my hips. Now I'm 40, I have to now seriously think about what I'm eating. Q. But it was, in terms of if it's racist, that was all so‑‑ I assume that you would ‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Lewine's shaking her head. You're butting in. Q. ‑‑ Sergio is not being racist‑‑ Sergio is not racist, and would not have meant that in racist way. LEE WESTWOOD: I just said two answers ago‑‑ quite sure I said I'm not getting in the middle of that relationship. It's got absolutely nothing to do with me because I get on well with both of them. SARAH GWYNN: And we'll leave that one there I think. Thanks, Neil. LEE WESTWOOD: Any golf questions? Q. How tough is it for you guys that have all gone really, really well over here on The European Tour and the big American events want you over here; do you feel yourself pulled in two directions, your sort of loyalty to The European Tour but your desire to win the big events in America? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, you do feel a bit slightly, but at the same time, you obviously have your own choice. My choice has been to support The European Tour wholeheartedly for a long time, but now having made the move and gone over and lived in America, you know, obviously I've changed my approach. You know, now I play full‑time on the PGA TOUR, so I'm only able to come over here and play sporadically I suppose. You know, that leads to me only playing three events I think in Continental Europe this year, this one, The French Open and The Open Championship. I can't even defend Sweden next week because it's one of the biggest events on the PGA TOUR, the Memorial. And having sort of set myself out to go over and play there full‑time, I feel that I have to go and play in events like that. Q. Do you feel it will be hard for you to fulfill your 13? LEE WESTWOOD: No, it won't be hard for me to fulfill my 13. I will probably play 15. But the disappointing thing is, outside The Open Championship, only two of those are in Europe on The European Tour, this one and France. That's dramatically less. I think it probably shows where The European Tour is at the moment. I think this is the first year where there's been more events outside of Europe than inside Europe on The European Tour, which is a reflection of I think the global economic climate really. Europe is struggling at the moment. Q. Is it because of that that all of the guys have answered the call to come here? LEE WESTWOOD: I think all The European Tour players and Europeans like to support this event. I think outside the majors and the World Golf Championships, it's sort of right there tied with the PLAYERS Championship, and it's our equivalent of their PLAYERS Championship. It's in the Top‑10 events of the year for me. You want to play in all of the big events. So I would like to see The European Tour build around this event in the future and have more big events to sort of attract maybe a few of the Americans to come over and play two or three events in May. I'm sure the PGA TOUR wouldn't be happy with that with their Texas tournaments, but that seems to me like a good idea for getting people to come over; rather than people coming over for one, come over for a run of tournaments where people get to see us a bit more often. Q. You probably answered my question, but if is there were more events in England, I take it you would come back more, and is there a point for, as you said, strategic, like around The Open and other ones, having little groups? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's very difficult to say yes for sure, because you don't know what dates it's going to be. Like next week I can't defend Sweden because I'm playing in the Memorial, and that's obviously something I would like to do. Obviously if the date suited my schedule and it was a good date, then I would have certainly come back. It's nice to come home and play on home turf, really, and support English and British golf. We've got so many good English players at the moment. It's a shame that the English and British public only get to see us once a year outside of The Open. Q. What exactly has The European Tour got to do to attract the Americans, other than double or triple the prize money perhaps? LEE WESTWOOD: It's difficult to answer that. Having witnessed it firsthand really this year, the comfort zone you get in; like after Dubai, I played Dubai the first tournament of the year. This is the first time I've been outside of‑‑ I've stayed in the same country for three and a half, four months. This is the first time I've been outside that. That's a massive bonus or an advantage. You really do get into a comfort zone playing where the longest tournament is sort of three hours away and you don't suffer from six, seven, eight hours of jet‑lag. They are playing for massive amounts of cash each week and huge World Ranking points. Because all of the top European Tour players have been drawn over to PGA TOUR, there's huge amounts of World Ranking points and obviously a lot of the tournaments, the qualification criteria, the World Golf Championships and the Majors, are World Rankings‑based, so you really need to be in that pot playing for those points and qualifying for the bigger events. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be a challenge. You know, I'll be happy to sit down with the Tour and discuss it and find away, but it will be difficult for them, yeah, for sure. Q. You touched on it right at the end there when you said you'd be happy to sit down‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, we have sat down. Q. Can you just expand on that and explain what they have said to you and what maybe ideas? LEE WESTWOOD: Just there's got to be more dialogue between the top players or the players that play elsewhere and The European Tour. You know, there's no point in putting big tournaments on when the top players can't attend. I'm sorry, it's just the reality of the way the world is. You don't sell your tournaments on a person that's 110th in the Money List. You sell your tournament to sponsors on being able to attract Top‑50 in the world players. So you've got to discuss the scheduling with those players. Makes sense. Q. To just follow‑up, because otherwise, it sounded quite gloomy, the financial problems. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it is quite gloomy at the moment. It is The European Tour and there's more events outside The European Tour. How many tour events were there in South Africa this year? Five or six? And there's one in England. You know, that, to me, is quite a surprising statistic. Q. There's one in Wales that's 12 miles over the bridge and nobody goes to it. (Laughter). LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, it's in two weeks' time, isn't it, the week before the U.S. Open. Q. No, it's not. SARAH GWYNN: September. LEE WESTWOOD: Well, it used to be. When is it? Middle of the FedExCup? See, that's why there's been no dialogue between the Tour and the top players. I don't even know when The Wales Open is. When is it? Q. It's the third week of August, I believe‑‑ I'm on holiday, but‑‑ (laughter). LEE WESTWOOD: Cardiff have probably got their first game in Premier League that week, have they. Q. Is it time for the Tour to just look at the PGA TOUR and just match their schedule up with theirs? LEE WESTWOOD: I think they have to work with the PGA TOUR. I said that last night, rather than going head‑to‑head with the PGA TOUR, you have to sit down‑‑ we have a good Middle Eastern stretch at the start of the year; a good stretch, a big tournament here, and an opportunity to build around this. You've got The Open Championship in July and an opportunity to build around that. And then at the end of the year, we have a run of big tournaments in Asia when the FedExCup events are over. I think rather than the need to fight the PGA TOUR, you need to sort of work around it. Well, not work around it, but work with them and not just try and go head‑to‑head. When is The Wales Open, by the way? Q. It's the third week of August. LEE WESTWOOD: What's it up against in America? Q. One of the women's events. LEE WESTWOOD:  Is it the first FedExCup event? You've got no chance, have you. I was asked if I was playing in Switzerland last night by Christian Barras because it was the free week in the middle of the FedExCup events. You haven't got a chance. Got to work around it some way. Q. It doesn't help, though, does it, that three of the World Golf Championships happen to be in America; although they are called 'World.' LEE WESTWOOD: Well, I said that ten years ago, didn't I. You've only got to look at your records. I've always found it slightly disappointing that places like South Africa and Australia and Europe and Asia don't have‑‑ well, Asia's got one now through HSBC; but that the World Golf Championships aren't moved around a little bit more. I can understand why they are based in the States; the sponsors are primarily‑‑ that's a big market for them and they are based there. But if you are going it call something a World Golf Championships, it seems to me that you've got to move it around the world, because not only are they big tournaments and they are vehicles for the sponsors, but they should also be vehicles for promoting golf in far‑flung regions on and taking the best players in the world to places like China‑‑ although we do now, Australia and South Africa and give people an opportunity to see the best players in the world play in the best tournaments. It's a perfect opportunity for them to do that with them being World Golf Championships. But it's not up to me. Q. This is a good time, to assess your move to America, your first visit back; can you give us an assessment of your time over there? LEE WESTWOOD: Well, the reason for moving over to America wasn't really to give myself a better chance in the major championships; it wasn't primarily the reason for doing that. I wanted‑‑ I got to 39, 40 years of age and I wanted a new challenge, really. So I joined the TOUR last year and then being successful on it and enjoying being in America. And my family felt like having a change, as well. Just got a bit frustrated with the weather in England, and not seeing me much. I think already this year, I've sort of spent‑‑ we counted it, about 28 days extra at home than last year. So that's working there. I certainly feel a lot better. I've got a lot less jet‑lag to contend with. But if you do sort of look into the fact that, what's let me down in Major Championships in recent years has been my short game, and since I've moved to the States, I've gone from 190th in scrambling to fifth, purely because I've just had better facilities to practise in and not had such a big transition to make from, say, being here in February and practising on greens that were running at 8 on the Stimpmeter and soft because it's wet, and then going to a World Golf Championships or something like that in the States and having to contend with greens that are running 12 and 13; it's not been such a big change for me. So that's, you know, worked instantly. That's obvious and it's there for everybody to see. Q. Any cons? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I miss England. Miss my mum and dad, but they come over now and again. But that's about it. Kids love it. Happier; enjoy going to school in shorts and a tee shirt instead of coming home and going and playing with friends and being on a computer or something like that, they go surfing. It's a bit weird really. I wish I could have done that. Used to go and kick a football around in the street and he's off surfing. He's got sharks to contend with. Q. How have you achieved the improvement with your short game? Do you have a new coach over there? LEE WESTWOOD: No, nobody's been coaching me. I did a little bit of work with Tony Johnstone around August last year. He came over to Old Palm. We did a bit of work. But I only worked with him for two or three weeks. And then basically I've just done it myself. Just practised hard. Unfortunately I haven't dedicated my time‑‑ it's made my long game go off a bit but it's gradually coming back. I've sort of gone from 80 per cent practise on my long game and 20per cent practise on my short game to 80 per cent practise on my short game and 20 per cent practise on my long game, and obviously my long game suffered slightly. So I'm just trying to find a balance of the practise time at the moment for it and to get the maximum out of all my game. But I don't think it's going to be long before my long game comes around. Q. Is it irritating that so many people criticise your short game? LEE WESTWOOD: No, because I don't listen to them. But I mean, you know, if you want to be naïve and stupid enough not to see an improvement with my short game, then live in a box, yeah, if you want. Q. I said criticise‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, but you people criticise it. But it's there for everybody to see, 190th to fifth. Even Johnny Miller gave me a pat on the back last week. I nearly fell over. Q. Have you played Merion? LEE WESTWOOD: No. Q. What do you know about it? LEE WESTWOOD: It's an old, traditional‑style golf course that they have lengthened in places. It's tight and there's a lot of good, short par 4s. The short holes are really short and the long holes are really long I've heard. The long par 3s are 250 and the short par 4s are between sort of 350 and 400, which we very rarely play nowadays. So it will be an interesting week. I hope they get the weather for the way they want the golf course to play. I think if it's wet, it could be torn apart. That's from not having played it but from what I can gather talking to people at the USGA. Q. Do you have time to go up there before the U.S. Open? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'm hoping to some time over the next couple of weeks. Q. With you in the States, Rory in the States, more tour players, European Tour players going there to spend more time, when it comes to a Ryder Cup, is it going to make it less of a family atmosphere or team spirit? LEE WESTWOOD: No, I don't think so. I don't think you've seen a detraction from that over the last few years, and we've all been playing there regularly. I've played with captains, like Bernhard has an American wife and brought his family up in America, but still ‑‑ from all his family, a passion there for the European side and wanting the European side to win. Obviously that's isn't going to detract; so that at the end of the day we are still going to be proud Europeans and proud Spaniards and proud Swedes, representing Europe. Q. So you'll be a European Tour playing in America rather than an American Tour playing some time in Europe? LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, I'll always consider myself a European. The Ryder Cup is not about The European Tour playing the PGA TOUR. It's about Europeans playing Americans. Q. Used to be the European‑‑ people used to see‑‑ LEE WESTWOOD: Yeah, but they had it wrong, didn't they. That's not what it was originally. It was the best of Europe playing the best of America; not the best of The European Tour playing the best of the PGA TOUR. Otherwise you'd have to involve South Africans and South Americans and Fijians and everybody. SARAH GWYNN: Thanks, good luck this week Lee. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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