LEE Westwood admitted yesterday that it would be a relief to leave windy Royal Birkdale behind after finishing the Open with a 20-over-par total of 300, 17 strokes behind winner Padraig Harrington.
The Ryder Cup star struggled on the greens all week, carding a 78 in the third round and making just four birdies in 72 holes, with two of those coming in his final three-over-par round of 73.
"It will be a relief to get away from here," said the
Worksop golfer. "I can't remember four more taxing days. It has been pretty brutal out there.
"It wasn't great first thing Thursday morning, it was freezing and you don't expect that in July. It has not really eased up all week. But I've been beaten up by the putter. I can handle the weather and I have played pretty well tee to green, but it is just demoralising when you don't turn your good shots into birdies.
"I three-putted the first three holes the first day and that set the tone.
"I didn't have a lot of confidence on the greens coming here but that made it even worse.
"It is never easy when you are getting blown about all over the place, you need to feel you are stroking the ball solidly because you are being buffeted around."
The 35-year-old, who only missed out on a US Open play-off with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate by one shot at Torrey Pines in southern California last month, will now spend time working on his game before heading out to Akron, Ohio, for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational which starts at the end of this month.
"I've missed a few short putts (in the final round], four or five inside five feet, and I'm just not making anything long," said Westwood.
"I have to work on that. It will be a bit calmer and it will be a bit quicker at Bridgestone in a couple of weeks' time.
"There was plenty there this week to encourage me, I played great tee to green and I'm just frustrated I didn't putt well on the greens, which was similar to the Masters (where he finished joint 11th].
"When I have putted well I have contended so that is a positive thing for the next couple of weeks. I'll practise a bit of smoothness of stroke, get out of the wind and play the two big ones in America (the WGC event and the US PGA]."
Martin Kaymer, a rising star from Germany who has won twice this season and hopes to get in Europe's Ryder Cup team in September, also had a miserable time in his first Open.
Starting off with five straight pars, he dropped seven shots in the next four holes to reach the turn in 41. He improved on the back nine with 36, but still finished on 303, 23 over par, at the back of the field.
The full article contains 503 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
