Experience the key for Westwood

With the exception of Phil Mickelson, no-one at Medinah Country club this week has more experience of Ryder Cup play than Lee Westwood. The 39-year-old Englishman made his debut alongside Nick Faldo at Valderrama, Spain in 1997 and since then he has been an ever-present, chalking up an impressive overall record of 16 wins, 11 losses and six halves in seven appearances. That makes him a virtual certainty to be a Ryder Cup skipper of the future and installs him as an undoubted leader in the present team, both in the locker room and out on the course. Westwood says it is a role he feels he is ideally placed to fill. "You know, this is my eighth Ryder Cup and eighth different captain, so I've experienced more than any other player I think in Ryder Cup history, different captains at different Ryder Cups, and seen the way different captains do it," he said. "The way they do it right and maybe make some mistakes that captains make because everybody makes mistakes. You're not going to get it right all the time. "If I'm asked my opinion, then I'll give it. You know, it will be considered and I won't say it's educated, but I'd have a fair amount of background and knowledge on the experience." Westwood has always revelled in the Ryder Cup atmosphere and although his singles record is not the best, with only two wins against five losses, his strength lies in the foursomes and fourballs. Over the years he has formed strong partnerships with the likes of Faldo, Darren Clarke and Sergio Garcia, while there is talk now of him being paired again with Luke Donald. The English duo played the final fourballs at Celtic Manor two years ago and their resounding 6 and 5 win over Tiger Woods was one of the top performances of the week. That pairing could come up in Friday's opening foursomes, a session that Westwood believes could be crucial in setting the tone for the weekend. "The first session is quite important. You don't want to get too far behind," he said. "And with it being foursomes, if you don't get momentum going in foursomes, it's very difficult to turn it around and get going in the right direction. "So foursomes is a tricky format and it's important to get your combinations right. "Over the last few years, we've been quite successful in foursomes, so maybe that's a bit of an advantage to us for it to be foursomes in the morning."