Lee Westwood is drawing motivation from Bernhard Langer’s Masters performance last month in preparation for the European Tour’s conclusion this week.
The DP World Tour Championship in Dubai will mark the end of what has been a testing season for everyone involved and is where the 2020 Race To Dubai champion will be crowned.
Westwood, who was crowned as Europe’s best back in 2000 and 2009, is hoping to come out on top again this time around at age 47.
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The Englishman says Langer’s extraordinary performance at Augusta National has given him heaps of confidence after the German (63) became the oldest player to ever make the cut at the Masters.
‘To win it for a third time would be amazing. I’m 48 in April next year, it shows if you keep yourself fairly fit and retain your enthusiasm and mental capacity for the game, as we saw with Bernhard Langer at the Masters, you can carry on playing to a high level for a long, long time,’ said Westwood.
‘The key to playing well for a long time, longevity, is in the mental side of it. You have to want to go away from the golf course, not at tournaments, and still put the hard work in at the gym and on the range.
‘People don’t see that hard work, but that’s where it becomes the hardest.
‘It’s all right turning up to tournaments because that gets your competitive juices flowing, but it’s those cold mornings when you need to go out and hit balls for two or three hours or go to the gym and work on your flexibility and your strength, do squats and deadlifts. That’s the time when you need good mental training.’
The former world No 1 will head into Thursday’s start in fourth spot in the Race to Dubai standings, having won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the start of the year.
‘Turning up this week, if I play as well as I know I can play, it’s a golf course that suits me because I’ve won here and played well other weeks. I’m going to have a chance. At 47, nearly 48, that’s a big bonus,’ added Westwood.
