WGC AMERICAN EXPRESS CHAMPIONSHIP

November 6, 1999

Lee Westwood

LEE WESTWOOD: Yes, it's a bit tight. So I'm only a couple off the lead, and I have a chance.

LEE WESTWOOD: Probably not as good as yesterday, but okay. I've not really hit the ball great all week, but certainly got it around. Just struggled a bit over the last three holes, but probably did well to finish 5, 5, 5.

LEE WESTWOOD: I wasn't playing very well at the start of the week, so I thought if I could get myself in contention, anything could happen. I'm not playing well enough to run away with the tournament, so I thought if I could get in contention, I might have a bit of luck coming down the stretch, and it might be a battle at the end and anything can happen.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, it's been a long day out there, and I've stood around for half an hour, and I really want to go and have something to eat. That's what it boils down to.

LEE WESTWOOD: I'm as confident as anybody else, probably. Probably not as confident as I would be if I was hitting the ball as I'd like. But I certainly think I've got a chance.

LEE WESTWOOD: I finished 5, 5, 5 today, and I finished 4, 7, 5 on Thursday. So I've dropped a few shots over the last few holes. And if I played them decent, it would be better. You can always say these things. I'll have to see tomorrow, see what happens, see if I can build up my lead to combat the last few holes.

LEE WESTWOOD: The birdies and bogeys?

LEE WESTWOOD: I bogeyed 16. I hooked it off the tee, just chipped it out, 4-iron right of the green, chipped to 3 feet, made that. I bogeyed the last -- I thought it was a good shot, hit the tree and went left, tried to go through the gap, didn't get away with it, 7-iron just off the back edge, chipped to 5 feet and made it. Those were two bogeys. I made a nice birdie at 5, I hit a sand wedge to 4 feet, 3-putted 6 from 10 feet. I had a good chance on 9 from about 6 feet. Made a good par on 10. I caught it on the front edge of 11. 7-iron, 15 feet on 12, made that. And then the bogeys on 16 and 18.

LEE WESTWOOD: No, I looked across and saw Scott Hoch got 5-under, going down -- he was on the 15th tee, there was a bit of a wait there. I don't know what anybody else was doing. I've only just found out who was leading.

LEE WESTWOOD: Not really. I don't see any point in thinking about that, when the tournament is the only thing to lead to winning the Order of Merit. There's no point in confusing things and worrying about what somebody else is doing. I might as well go out and try to win the tournament. You have to do your best. The best is to win the Order of Merit. That's what I wanted to do the start of the week, and I've given myself a good chance. I was leading the last tournament going into the last round. And I need to do the same again. I need to finish first, and Monte has to finish third. So it's the same situation again. So it's kind of bad if I keep getting into that situation, because I don't think Monte is getting any worse, that's for sure. He only seems to be improving. When I sit down at the end of the year it's my ultimate yard stick to whether I'm happy, if I've improved during the year, then that's a good year for me, no matter how many times I've won. Seven times last year, and it's four so far this year. So you can say it's not been that bad a year. But if you think that coming down the stretch you don't win tournaments.

LEE WESTWOOD: It would be very good. But it would be a credit for me to win a World Championship event, which I have to do to win the other one. It could turn from a bad year into a really good year tomorrow.

LEE WESTWOOD: No matter what happens tomorrow, it's going to be the end of a good year. I've got into contention in this tournament, and I'm fairly happy with that. I led The Masters going into the back 9. I led the PGA for a couple of rounds until I think Mike Weir passed me. But I led that for a while, so it was good.

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