Following a successful week at the Lee Westwood Golf Academies (to read feedback click here) Lee returns to the US this week for the third WGC event of the season, the Bridgestone Invitational, which takes place at Firestone C.C in Akron, Ohio.
Lee finished in T2nd place in this event last year, and also T9th in 2004. (See Lee's results for WGC events). he joins Ben Curtis and Shingo Katayama for the first two rounds with a 12.37(local) tee-time from the 1st on Thursday and 8.52 from the 10th on Friday.
"I've always enjoyed coming here right from the first time I played here", Lee said. "I've always thought it was a golf course that suited me. I played well here last year, got quite close, played pretty nicely all week, and happy to be back in pretty good form. I'm looking forward to these next couple of weeks. The last couple of weeks I've had off, I've been wandering around England doing a few kids' academies I set up earlier this year, so they've kept me busy. And then last week I just mainly worked on my game a little bit, putting and short game stuff with Pete Cowen, and did a little bit of putting. So I come in here fresh, but having put a fair bit of work into the game, as well.
I think my short game and certainly my bunker play is a lot better this year than it was last year. I think if I go back to this tournament last year where I really feel like I lost it on the 8th in the last round where I hit it in the trap and then left it, and it wasn't that hard a bunker shot, really. I suppose eight times out of ten I would now expect to get that up-and-down, and I made 5. So that put me behind the 8-ball a bit, to use a term over here. But then I came back with a few birdies on the next few holes. I think I birdied the next hole, so that was on the 7th. The 8th, it ran down the hill and I made birdie there, so I got back into it a little bit there and then birdied a couple more. Then I missed a chance at 17 and 18. But I think my short game is much better.
This course rewards you if you hit fairways. You know, you've got a big advantage. Maybe not quite so much this week because the rough is not as long and the greens are a little bit softer. You'll be able to stop it out of the rough a little bit easier. But normally the rough is a little bit longer than this and the greens are normally firm, so you need some control coming off the fairways
Winning a World Golf Championship would mean an awful lot. I've never won one. I've finished second a couple of times, and when you look at it, they're just a slight tier down from the majors. That's how I think the players perceive them. You want to win one of the four majors first, and then the World Golf Championships would be just a slight step down from that. They're massive tournaments and you have the best fields mostly. You're pretty much guaranteed the top 50 in the world are here. And they're generally played around great golf courses. They obviously mean a lot. You don't see many people skipping them anyway.
Lee was asked how the kids at the academies had broached his result in The Open a few weeks ago... "Fairly unsubtly", Lee laughed. "It was good to do it. The local newspaper in Worksop run a Junior Golf Competition on the Monday after the Open Championship, so I was up to work at the golf club, where I'm a member, to present the prizes at 5:00 o'clock on Monday and got a good reception there. Obviously it was a mix between everybody was disappointed for me that I didn't win, but still thought it was a great result.
And then the following three days I was hopping in a helicopter around England doing golf academy things, which I started at the start of the year. So the fact that I played well in the Open sort of gave them a higher profile, as well, and I think made them go along even better...but nothing but good responses from all the people that went to them. But it was interesting, some of the questions that came out. Most people wanted to know what was going through your head when you're in that situation. A couple wanted to know if it was a fake tan or a real tan that I had. Why did you hit the first one so hard? So that will bring you down to earth with a pretty big bump.
My son was one of the best walking off the 18th green. I was pretty deflated afterwards. He said, 'Dad, you did really well. You finished third'. So there you go".
Lee carded a first round 69, but it was an up and down kind of day, "I doubled the first, shot a horrible shot, made double. Two good shots the next, three-putted, and couldn't hit close. Longest putt was on the third from about 15 feet, then hit it like that on 4, that on 6, that on 7 and that on 8. Then dropped a few around 9 (he bogeyed 11 and 13 and double-bogeyed 14) and finished with some birdie putts (at 15 and 17). Any time you walk off here with seven birdies you would expect to be in the 60s". He lies in T14th spot, five shots behind leader Padraig Harrington.
His second round of 71, two birdies and three bogeys, saw him drop back to par for the event and finish the day in T25th place.
Lee had a third round tee-time of 11.50 (BST-16.50) with Anthony Kim, recording a 70. Still on even par, Lee was T27th on the leaderboard. Padraig Harrington retained the lead on 10-under.
Nick O'Hern joined Lee for the final round at 11.30 (16.30 BST), when Lee shot a brilliant 65, playing in hot and humid conditions. He finished in 9th place with earnings of €114,218 ($151,222) and is now 13th in WR and 7th in the Race to Dubai.
Tiger Woods won the event on 12 under par.
"I just kept playing the way I had been playing all week", Lee said. "I hit a lot of good shots, hit it close a lot and was unlucky not to make a hole in one at the 12th, it just lipped out and I left it on the edge. But the key was that I made a couple more putts, that is what has been lacking this week. The first day I came out, and that was really where I let myself down this week. I made seven birdies that day and only shot one under par. That was sloppy golf but I tend to do that when I have had a couple of weeks off and a break, I get a bit jaded and I didn't make enough of all those birdies on the opening day. That is why I am only five under par at the end of the week".
"I have got better as this week has gone on so I am looking forward to next week. It is the last Major of the year and having come so close at The Open Championship, I will try and put that right next week and get the 'W' as they say over here".
