Lee Westwood seeking Ryder Cup points

Rejuvenated Briton Lee Westwood will be scrapping for Ryder Cup points in the low-key Turespana Mallorca Classic this week instead of playing the World Matchplay Championship he won in 2000.

The former European number one did not qualify for the matchplay event at Wentworth, England, but could add 72,000 points to his Ryder Cup tally with victory in Mallorca.

Westwood comfortably leads the Ryder Cup table on 787,337 points which he has amassed with the help of two significant victories -- August's BMW International Open that signalled his return to the winners' fold after nearly three years, and the Dunhill Links Championship.

But the 30-year-old is taking no chances when it comes to qualifying automatically for Bernhard Langer's 2004 European Ruder Cup team.

"I just want to get qualification over and done with as soon as I can," said Westwood on Wednesday, the day before the start of the competition.

"This tournament was on my schedule a long while ago and I had no intentions of changing things just because I've had such a fantastic month or so."

Lying fifth on the European money-list, Westwood will not enhance his position greatly with a victory at the Pula course.

But success will mean three titles in six events for September's European player of the month, a far cry from his struggles in recent years.

Double major champion Jose Maria Olazabal is also at Pula and victory could ease the pressure on him to qualify for the end-of-season Volvo Masters.

The Spaniard holds the 60th and final qualifying place for Valderrama in two weeks' time and is only $3,000 ahead of closest rival Peter O'Malley of Australia.

The final qualifying event for the Volvo Masters is next week's Madrid Open.

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