Tweet
Enlarge Photo Lee Westwood of England tees off on the ninth hole during second round play of... Lee Westwood has made a habit of contending for golf's biggest titles in the last few years and the British world number four returned to familiar territory at the Players Championship on Friday.Having recorded top-three finishes in the last three majors, Westwood soared to the top of the leaderboard with a sparkling seven-under-par 65 in the second round.
"I try and get myself right showing up for the biggest tournaments," the Englishman told reporters after moving one stroke clear of the field with a 12-under total of 132 at the TPC Sawgrass.
"As you get older, it gets harder to peak all the time when you want to so you have to pick and choose your ones. You want to play well in the biggest tournaments and this is one of the biggest tournaments."
The Players is dubbed the 'fifth major' and a Westwood triumph this week would add further gloss to a glittering resume which includes two European Tour order of merit crowns and six Ryder Cup appearances.
"A Players victory would be incredibly important," said the 37-year-old, a winner of 20 titles on the European Tour whose only PGA Tour victory came at the 1998 New Orleans Classic.
"It's a massive tournament. You look at the list of past winners and there are some great champions."
SEALING THE DEAL
Asked what he needed to do to seal the deal in golf's biggest events, Westwood replied: "I'm not doing much wrong.
"I keep putting myself in contention and I've come pretty close in four of the last six majors. I won the money list in Europe last year and performed pretty well when the pressure was on in the last event.
"That's all I'm trying to do, just keep performing like that."
Westwood has finished third, third and second in his last three majors, most recently at the U.S. Masters four weeks ago when he led by one shot going into the final round.
"This is the next real big tournament on my radar," he said after recording six birdies, an eagle and one bogey on another day of calm, receptive conditions at Sawgrass.
"I'm playing some of the best golf of my life, so I'm very, very relaxed out there," added Westwood who completed a European Tour double last year by winning the season-ending Dubai World Championship and the overall money list title.
(Editing by Frank Pingue; To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
Powered by WizardRSS | Full Text RSS Feeds
