Westwood eyeing Major glory

LEE WESTWOOD has returned to the scene of his first US Open appearance confident he has the game and the mentality to finally land the major title that has so far remained tantalisingly elusive.

At age 38, the world number two from England feels he is playing the best golf of his life as he prepares to tee off in the 53rd major of his career at Congressional Country Club near Washington DC on Thursday.

Westwood finished tied for 19th in his first US Open at Congressional in 1997 and has had much nearer misses since with five top three finishes since the 2008 US Open, when he was third at Torrey Pines.

Learning how to react to those disappointments, he said last night, has enabled him to make repeated bids for glory rather than fade away back into the pack of also-rans.

“It’s a fine balancing act and a fine line when you do get really close to it from becoming frustrated as opposed to seeing the positives in it.

“The fact that you are very close and that I feel my game is good enough and if I just did a few things differently at the right times it would be the difference between a second and a win.

“So it’s a tricky balancing act and also going in with expectations but playing with a freedom as well.

“If you’re a good player you’re going to have disappointments because you’re going to be in contention a lot. You’re going to have a lot of chances to win championships. That’s all part and parcel of it really.”

Westwood backed his feelings on the subject with some cold hard logic about the facts of professional golfing life.

“As golfers, a successful year probably means winning two or three times, which is about 10 per cent of the times you play. So you get used to not winning and being disappointed.

“And if you’re any good and mentally right, you learn to try and take the positives out of anything. Even when you’ve finished second and you probably could have won one you learn to look on the bright side and I’ve probably managed to do that over the past few years.

“And that’s why after, say, my (third) place at Turnberry I followed it with a third place at the PGA at Hazeltine, and then eight months after that a second place in the Masters again. And keep getting into contention, and at the Open last year at St Andrews, second again.

“I seem to be responding well and coming out of it positively, even though obviously I’d love to win one.”

Doing that at Congressional this week would not come as a surprise. The world number two is a co-favourite with the bookies alongside current number one and fellow Englishman Luke Donald with the pair grouped alongside No.3 Martin Kaymer of Germany for the first two rounds.

What’s more, Westwood is perfectly at ease around the 7,574-yard, par-71 Blue course, which he called one his favourites. He played 27 holes over two days last week and another six on his return yesterday and described it as “such a good, honest test.”

Nor is he fazed by the US Golf Association’s famously tough set-up criteria for their national championship.

“I think it’s probably the toughest of all four majors,” Westwood said. “You seem to see the highest score here compared to the others. You just have to be very, very patient and not give shots away unnecessarily.

“If you can make double instead of triple bogey, that’s great. If you can make bogey instead of making double, that’s fantastic. It’s almost like credit is one less birdie you need if you can make that three or four-footer when you need it.”

Asked what made it the toughest, Westwood replied: “If you were going to ask for a set-up for a good score it would be completely opposite to the way they set up a US Open.

“You don’t want soft greens, wide fairways and greens running at about 11. These are going to be greens running at somewhere around 14, firm and narrow fairways with lots of rough. It’s pretty self explanatory really.”