Westwood: I must lighten up

IF THE opening moments of his pre-tournament press conference are anything to go by, Lee Westwood may be taking his plan of not trying too hard to finally land his first major, a little too far.

The world number two from Nottinghamshire has pinpointed his failure to convert five top-three finishes in his last eight major outings as a case of having put too much pressure on himself and after years of resistance to the idea of sports psychology he has turned to Dr Bob Rotella in order to help the 38-year-old reach his holy grail.

Rotella told him to lighten up, but when the new, relaxed Westwood was told he tied for 44th on his last visit to the Atlanta Athletic Club for the 2001 PGA Championship, he questioned the information.