Briton Lee Westwood is
ready to step up his bid to be European number one for the first
time by landing back-to-back titles with victory in the German
Masters starting on Thursday.
Westwood, whose Belgian Open win last weekend was his fifth
on the European Tour this season, can strengthen his lead at the
top of the rankings while his nearest rival Darren Clarke misses
the event after the birth of his second child.
To underline his ambition to end the season as Europe's top
player, Westwood has said he may add next month's Italian Open
to his schedule before the two final big-money tournaments, the
Volvo Masters and World Golf Championship.
The Englishman, who is world number four, underlined his
desire to be the world's best player as he prepared for the
German tournament on Wednesday, but said he would settle for
best in Europe for the time being.
"I've been at number four before but it's nice to be number
one in Europe," Westwood said. "Number four is not number one --
that's a long way off -- but it's a step in the right direction.
"It might take time to get to number one but second and
third is attainable; there's not much between the rest of us.
You've got to make that progression.
Lee Westwood needs one more title to equal the European Tour record.Allsport.
"The most important thing at this stage is to keep winning
titles. World ranking points, orders of merit, records, come
along as by-products."
If Westwood can win here, one of the by-products will be to
join an elite group of players who have won six times in one
year on the European Tour -- Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and
Colin Montgomerie.
Westwood said that he was 'in control' of his game enough
now after a lull, to take the German title.
He may need to be at his best because Spain's Sergio Garcia believes he is back to the form which earned him this title last
year, his second in Europe.
"For my last ten rounds, nine of them have been in the 60s,
so I'm playing well," he said.
Thomas Bjorn and Montgomerie, fourth and fifth on the Tour
money-winning list, are Westwood's nearest rankings rivals in
Germany, where U.S. Masters champion Vijay Singh is also in the
field.
Bjorn pronounced himself fit after limping out of last
week's Belgian Open.
