Woods 'just somebody else to beat': Westwood

Lee Westwood has described Tiger Woods as “just somebody else you’ve got to beat.”

That is not to say the former European number one does not consider Woods a very special talent, perhaps the best golfer there has ever been.

Westwood approaches this week’s Masters at Augusta feeling that the only way for him to win a first major is to believe he can – and he does not think enough of the field have had the same attitude when competing against the world number one.

“Tiger said that the only way to turn up for a tournament is thinking you can win it. I think he hit the nail on the head,” said the 34-year-old.

“Too many have fallen into the trap with him. But when I turn up and I’m playing at my best I’ve got a chance.”

It is still a chilling fact for the entire European contingent gathered for the opening major of the season that not one of them has even finished ahead of Woods since The Open at Carnoustie last July.

In 11 events since then he has won nine, was second to Phil Mickelson in another – and last time out at the CA world championship in Miami his seven-tournament winning run and unbeaten start to 2008 came to an end when he was ’only’ fifth, behind Australian Geoff Ogilvy, Fiji’s Vijay Singh, South African Retief Goosen and American Jim Furyk.

Even if the even money odds on him to win a fifth Masters this week are so unattractive they are positively ugly, you can understand why the bookmakers have priced him as they have.

Talk of Woods accomplishing golf’s first-ever Grand Slam of all four majors in one year is in the air – even Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo thinks it is on, which says more about what he thinks of the American than it does about how highly he still rates his star players.

Westwood leads the cup race and almost certainly will not need a wild card this time – but how he would love to join the ranks of major champions first.

Padraig Harrington ended Europe’s nine-year barren spell when he lifted The Open. Others are hoping it creates a new wave of winners.

Westwood did not finish in the top 30 of any of the four majors last season. But he did not finish outside the top 40 in them either and since then he has taken his game – and his fitness – up another level and has been Europe’s most consisted performer.

He considers himself in the best shape he has ever been heading into the most important stretch of the season, although in a dig at Ian Poulter adds: “Yeah, but not good enough for any naked shots in any magazines.”

He will need to be at his peak for the challenge that lies ahead this week.

“The course grinds you down – mentally more than anything. It’s five hours of brain battering,” he said.

“But I look forward to it. Any time you are tested to the limit and you know it’s coming, you look forward to that experience.

“You hope you come out the other end having beaten everybody else. It’s difficult to tell whether lack of fitness has cost me in the past – it’s unquantifiable. In golf, there are so many different factors that come into it.

“Mental fatigue might be brought on by not being fit enough or by not eating enough. Now when I come off the course I feel I can play again. I feel stronger, and it’s easy to get my body into positions where I can control things.

“I feel well-prepared and closer to a major than ever.”

Part of that is because he is longer than ever, but short-hitter Zach Johnson taking the title last year underlined that course management is just as important.

“That win went to show – it was winnable by a whole range of players. It will be interesting to see who wins this year,” Westwood adds.

“There is definitely a way to play Augusta. It’s not one of those places where you can be aggressive. If you parred every hole last year you would have won it.

“That’s not really the way you think most weeks. I’m a naturally aggressive player – if there’s something to be taken on I will take it on. So I will have to rein myself in and remember where I am.”

Ten years ago last Saturday, Westwood – described then as “a 24-year-old phenomenon”, won in New Orleans on the eve of The Masters. There have been more wins all around the world since, but no more in America yet.

That does not worry him.

“I haven’t really give myself the opportunity, like other people have, by moving across and becoming a member of the (PGA) Tour,” he points out.

“I think I would have won more if I’d taken my membership after New Orleans and played 25 events a year. Maybe a lot more – but you don’t know, do you?”