Golf-Westwood ready for Qatar challenge
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World No3 Lee Westwood has battled back from the shoulder problems that plagued him Abu Dhabi he says he’s looking to make up for it and this week’s Qatar Masters.
"I had a few issues to negotiate last week," said the 38-year-old Englishman, who lost his No2 spot to young star Rory McIlroy following his travails at the Abu Dhabi Championship where he tied 17th.
"We've been working a lot on my fitness recently and I hadn't played a lot going into Abu Dhabi," Westwood told the European Tour's website.
"I had a bit of a shoulder injury the first couple of days there which is now gone. It just needed to loosen up a little bit."
The second event on the tour’s Desert Swing, the Qatar Masters will be followed by next week’s Dubai Desert Classic. And Westwood insists that the Doha Golf Club is the trickiest of the three, particularly with the anticipated weather conditions.
"Apparently the rough is not as long as it was last year but the weather man says it's going to be fairly windy," the Englishman added.
"When it's like that around here it is a really tough test. If the wind really pumps this week it could quite easily be an eight or nine-under-par winning score."
Reaching that winning score may be a test for some of the best players in the game in a formidable line-up, and Westwood reckons he’ll be lining up with two of the favourites as he partners reigning champion Thomas Bjorn of Denmark and Australia’s World No2 Jason Day.
"I was asked at the end of last week who will have a big year and the only one I picked out was Jason Day," said the Briton.
"I think he's a talented player. He gets overlooked quite a bit and obviously by saying that I put the curse on him and he missed the cut in Abu Dhabi," joked Westwood.
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