Tournament host Lee Westwood is looking forward to getting underway at the British Masters at Close House this week, though he admits course knowledge may not be the big advantage he was hoping for on the Colt Course.
Westwood, who officially opened the course in 2011 and has been part of the team tweaking the Scott Macpherson-designed layout ahead of the arrival of the world’s best players this week, said: “I’m delighted this week has finally arrived.
“I’ve been closely involved in preparing for the event in the last year and it will be nice to get back to being a golfer this week.
“When you turn up on a Saturday morning and you’re playing with your mates you play the course differently to how you would in a tournament.
“There are a few holes out there where I would normally pull out driver and not really think about. Standing on those new back tees this week, I’m thinking it’s a three wood and leave a full shot in a lot more.
“Tomorrow I’ll be out on the golf course trying to clear my mind and look at it as if I’d never played it before. It will be a different gameplan for tournament golf.”
“The course looks spectacular. At this time of year the leaves are starting to change and the fescues have that light colour – though we’re never short of rain up here so the fairways are nice and green.”
Westwood, who has had two top-10 finishes in his last three starts (T9 in the D+D REAL Czech Masters and T3 at the KLM Open), added: “My game is definitely trending in the right direction – maybe a win is just around the corner.
“It’s fantastic to have the likes of Sergio here and there are so many great players here this week.
“It’s great that Rory Is here supporting the tournament. He’s one of the few players in the world who I would turn out at a golf tournament to watch. The people here this week are really lucky to see him up close.
“The whole package is exactly how I wanted it – I’m sure everyone is going to enjoy some fantastic golf this week.”
The British Masters at Close House begins on Thursday – read our preview to the event here.
