Westwood on major mission after minor fire

LEE WESTWOOD’S feet are firmly on the ground heading into his 12th Masters tomorrow.

The world number two, seeking his first major success after three years of near misses, including last year’s second-place, is calm, collected and not at all ruffled by the mid-air drama that threatened to send his bid for a Green Jacket up in smoke before he even arrived at Augusta National Golf Club.

Or so it had been reported. Westwood, whose private jet had been forced to make an emergency landing soon after take-off from Houston, Texas, on Sunday night en route to Augusta, was keen yesterday to pour cold water on accounts of infernos at 30,000ft.

Asked for details about the flight that was taking him, Ryder Cup team-mate Ross Fisher and his manager Chubby Chandler amongst others from the Shell Houston Open to the Masters, Westwood replied: “Well, depends who you talk to.

“You talk to Chubby and there were flames coming up between our legs and things like that. We took off, got about, I guess, three or four minutes in the air and there was some smoke in the cabin, so the pilots donned the gas masks, oxygen masks, whatever, and turned it around fairly quickly; quicker than you would normally do.

“They brought it down fast and once they got everything comfortable for them I guess they just landed and we got the Fire Rescue guard of honour back to the handling agent.

“It was a bit nervy for three or four minutes but not as drama-filled as some would have you make out. If you read The Sun you would think we were on fire and landing like the Memphis Belle or something like that.”

Regardless, the drama was such that Westwood admitted that when they did get airborne again he had partaken of “a very large double vodka”.

Now safely ensconced at Augusta National, Westwood has turned his attentions back to landing that first major. That was a situation the Englishman might have expected was on the cards when he opened up a five-shot lead during last year’s third round, only to see Phil Mickelson go on a remarkable eagle-eagle-birdie run and turn that lead into a one-stroke deficit.

He still managed to start the final round with a one-shot lead over the American but some inspired play from Lefty on the way to a 67, meant that Westwood’s final 71 was only good enough for second place when inother years it would have given him that coveted blazer. Westwood said he took solace in the fact Mickelson had, after so many years of trying, finally made the breakthrough to his first major when he won the 2004 Masters, “and the fact that last year I sat in the scoring cabin and he just said, ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing and it will happen for you sooner or later’.”

Despite an inconsistent start to 2011, Westwood feels his chipping and putting have improved to the required level for success in the Masters and that, in tandem with the confidence boost of his excellent performance 12 months ago, gives him plenty ofconfidence for this week’s tournament.

“I feel like everything’s coming together,” he said. “The start of this year had been a little bit slow, partly to do with being injured the second half of last year. I haven’t really been able to get into a flow of things and play the schedule that I would like and do as much practice as I would like. I’m generally a pretty slow starter most years but this year I’ve shot some good scores and played some good golf at times.

“So, you know, if it all clicks into place this week, I know if I’m on my game, it’s good enough to win.”