Westwood warming to St Andrews at last

TEN years ago, Lee Westwood disliked the Old Course at St Andrews so much that he said it would not even get a place "in the top 200 courses in Fife".

The Englishman, who chalked up a notable success in his amateur career when winning the Leven Gold Medal in 1993, probably didn't know there aren't close to that many courses in the Kingdom, but he certainly got his message across about the 'Home Of Golf' Today, Westwood has a much different view about the most famous course in the world and says that isn't just down to the fact he won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship there in 2003.
"It would have been hard to have cooled on it, but I do enjoy St Andrews now," conceded the world No11. "When you win somewhere, it certainly helps but my view was changing over a period of time – that just confirmed it. As a 24-year-old, you get irritated when you bash the ball and it hits a slope and goes miles away. But, as you get older, you learn to appreciate the subtleties of things and I've done that over the years.

"St Andrews as a whole package is one of my favourite venues – the whole town is buzzing during the week," he added. "The course is a little bit unfortunate because people can't get down the middle of it and so you don't get quite the same atmosphere. But it's one of the venues I look forward to the most."

Westwood, still in the running to be crowned as Europe's No1 this season, defended his decision to miss last week's Vivendi Trophy, saying he needed a rest before embarking on a hectic few weeks. "I would like to have played, but, at the same time, I've had a long year," he said. "I am 36 now, not 21 or 22 like some of the lads, and I just can't play every week. I have to pace myself and the most important thing for me at this stage of the year is the money list and, unfortunately, the Vivendi Trophy didn't count on the money list."

Nevertheless, Westwood revealed he had cashed in from the fact that the Great Britain & Ireland team had won the event in Paris. "I could not resist the 11/8 on them," he smiled.