McDowell & Westwood Set Pace in Malaysia


Lee Westwood got off to a good start in defense of his title in the Maybank Malaysian Open. The European Tour event began Thursday at Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club.

The 41-year-old Westwood carded seven birdies and a bogey for a 6-under 66 and a first-place tie with Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who had the same configuration of scores.

Westwood attributed his success on the greens for his hot start. "I putted very nicely and started the ball on line well," he told the European Tour's website. "I left a couple short in the middle when I was fooled by the grain, but overall I'm very happy. It's probably the toughest I've ever seen this golf course play."

Westwood finished tied for ninth in last week's tournament in Dubai with McDowell, who has been working hard to get prepared for the 2015 campaign.

"I was fairly happy with the way everything looked coming into the new year," said the 35-year-old McDowell. "I did a lot of work off the course over the winter improving some things physically and in my swing, and things seem to be clicking really well.

"It's early days, but I'm feeling relaxed and my attitude's good. If I can continue that for the rest of the year then good things will happen.

"I'm pretty happy," added McDowell. "I hit the ball great today - drove it well and gave myself a lot of looks for birdie. Generally I'm very, very happy with that start. I've enjoyed the way this golf course looks from the start and I enjoyed playing it this morning with good company from the boys - it's a solid start.

"It's tough to pinpoint what you have to do right on this course because you have to do everything right. You have to drive it well, hit your irons well, and chipping and putting around the greens is tough as well.

"It really is kind of an all-round golf course, and the guys who have won round here - Lee Westwood, Thongchai Jaidee and Ryan Moore on the PGA Tour - are good all-round players. I think when I'm on, I'm one of those players as well."

Sharing third after 67s are England's Tommy Fleetwood, Malaysian Danny Chia and South Korean Sunghoon Kang. One stroke further back are Spaniard Alejandro Canizares, Denmark's Anders Hansen, Thai Prom Meesawat and England's Richard Bland.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015008/leaderboard/index.html.