• Open Championship

Westwood primed to open major account

Lee Westwood's long game could be the key to a successful week at Sandwich © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Preview: European stars hoping to feast at Sandwich
  
• Profile: Lee Westwood

ESPN will be providing comprehensive coverage of the Open Championship, with live scores, news and all the reaction from Royal St George's

European stars hoping to feast at Sandwich

Lee Westwood believes there will be "no excuses" if he fails to land his first major at the Open Championship this week, insisting his form is "right where I'd like it to be".

The world No. 2, who finished third at Turnberry in 2009 and as runner-up to Louis Oosthuizen at last year's Open, is still searching for his first triumph on the biggest stage, but the Englishman is confident he can break his duck at Sandwich.

"Hopefully it's a mathematical progression - third, second, obviously I'm hoping for a first," he said. "I think my form is right where I'd like it to be. I've been playing well just recently and had a good stretch of results.

"This is a week I look forward to all year round, so I try to gear my game up for this week. I'm happy with all aspects of my game, but I try not to have too many expectations. Just go out there and try my best really - we'll see."

The 38-year-old arrives at Royal St George's having posted six top-three finishes in his last 13 major tournaments, and has fond memories of the course having won there as an amateur in 1992.

Westwood is one of the purest strikers of the golf ball on the Tour and he is hoping the Links course will play into his hands over the weekend.

"Links golf is determined by the weather, so you don't want it flat calm," he said. "These courses are designed with, I guess, a 15-20mph wind in mind. I certainly want it so ball-striking is a pre-requisite really.

"And ideally you'd like it so it's the same morning and afternoon, but often that doesn't work out in links golf. It's the luck of the draw really. If that doesn't happen then you're hoping that you're on the right side of it. I think more than anywhere on the Open Championship rota there are a couple of fairways out there which you can get bad breaks.

"I suppose you can get good breaks as well, but I think at some point during the week you're going to need patience. But I've got plenty of that. Strategically it's a good golf course. You have to plan your way around it. The rough seems pretty fair. I think because you do get a few freaky bounces out there they've not gone silly with the rough this year. There's no excuses out there."

For Westwood, tournaments do not come any bigger than the Open Championship, and he admits he would love to win it more than any other major.

He said: "It's named after St George, I guess, so you can't get much more English than that really. It's obviously being played in England, which only happens every now and again, and it's the biggest championship in the world as far as I'm concerned. It would mean everything really to win this championship."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.