Lee Westwood hopes to tame Augusta National with his tons of experience
World number three Lee Westwood is gearing up for the first major event of the year, The Masters, at Augusta National, and is hoping to break his major drought in the coveted event.
The Englishman, despite having a brilliant career, has not won a major title as yet but has come close to lifting one on several occasions.
He soared to world number one after the fall of Tiger Woods and was able to retain the honour for a consecutive 17 months.
However, he was finally dethroned by Martin Kaymer in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship in Tucson last year.
Westwood insists that Augusta National can only be tamed through experience and hopes to bring his tons of experience into play next month.
He said, "You don’t get too many first-time winners at the Masters, because it’s the kind of course where you need to learn".
"You can hit a great shot there and think, ‘Well that’s good, I can hit a nice easy chip there’. And you get down there and think, ‘God, how can I get this up and down?’ It’s that kind of place – two or three yards can make a huge difference".
Westwood has been diligently working on his short game and now feels he has done enough hard work on it to take him all the way to the top.
He added, “So experience plays a massive part around there. My short game is much better now – it’s far more reliable and solid”.
Westwood started off his bid in the current season from Middle East but had to suffer due to the elbow injury.
He persisted against the burgeoning injury and refused to withdraw from the tournament.
He has not been able to pull a strong finish so far but believes Augusta is an altogether different ball game when it comes to professional golf.
He will be pitched against the top-50 on the official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), including Woods, who landed his first PGA Tour title last week, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, bringing an end to his two-year long winless streak.
Woods will be one of the major threats in the field, especially with the four Masters victories in his grizzled career.
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