Westwood sees the positives

Englishman unfazed by inability to register early win in 2010

Last updated: 8th February 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Westwood sees the positives

Westwood (R) congratulates Jimenez after his play-off win in Dubai

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European number one Lee Westwood insists he is not overly concerned about his failure to convert winning positions into tournament victories at the start of his 2010 campaign.

Westwood followed his third place at the Qatar Masters last week with an agonising play-off defeat to Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday.

The Englishman let a two-shot final round lead slip before being edged out at the third extra hole having already missed two championship putts himself.

But he has always regarded the three-event 'Gulf Swing' as his "pre-season" following his hectic end to the 2009 campaign when he clinched the inaugural Race to Dubai crown.

He will shortly head to America for the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship later this month which marks the start of his build-up to the year's first major - April's Masters at Augusta.

"The results, although I would liked to have won last week, don't really concern me too much," he stated.

"I keep accumulating world ranking points. I've done a lot of fitness work over the last three weeks and I feel pretty strong.

"The game still feels a little bit rusty and I'm mentally not quite sharp enough, but I'm hitting the good shots."

Bad luck

Westwood insisted bad luck had played a major role in his eventual defeat to Jimenez with the Spaniard seemingly in trouble at the first two play-off holes.

But after Westwood missed putts of 10 and 18 feet for a first title of the season which would have pushed him to third in the world, a missed six-foot par putt at the third play-off hole opened the door for Jimenez to record a first win since the 2008 BMW PGA Championship.

"The writing was on the wall," he continued. "Miguel plugs in the front, 99 times out of a 100 that goes back in the water.

"And he's also one of the best bunker players on tour. He still plays one of his poor bunker shots, but holes out to stay in it. That's one of those things, play-offs can be like that."