Westwood baffled as birdie blitz beckons

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27 September 2012

Lee Westwood has labelled US captain Davis Love's choice of course set-up as "weird" as team-mate Sergio Garcia admitted there was not much thinking now required at Medinah.

Love admitted he "just doesn't like rough" and wanted a Ryder Cup featuring lots of birdies and eagles to get the home fans going when the biennial contest gets under way on Friday.

"I've played here (in America) pretty much all year and I haven't seen a golf course that's had no rough down the side of the fairways and no rough around the greens," Westwood said. "That's a weird one to me, but you have to do what you feel is right as a team captain for your team."

Westwood and Luke Donald shot a better-ball score of 59, 13 under par, in Tuesday's first practice round, but Westwood was somewhat baffled by the decision.

He added: "This is not a golf course that either team is particularly used to and I can't see how it suits one team or the other to be perfectly honest. I would say the last time I played a golf course set up like this was The Belfry in 2002, and we set that up for ourselves."

Garcia, who burst onto the scene by finishing second to Tiger Woods as a 19-year-old in the US PGA Championship at Medinah in 1999, was similarly unimpressed.

The 32-year-old also finished joint third here in the US PGA in 2006 and said: "It has changed a little bit again. Personally I liked it better in '99. I thought it was a better course. But I guess this is the way it's going.

"The course is playing different with pretty much no rough so there's not a lot of thinking when you get on the tee. You can pretty much hit it nice and hard, and even if you miss, pretty much every time you'll have a shot."

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