General / Editor / 07 February 2007 / Leave a Comment

Lee Westwood is looking forward to this week's Malaysian Open as he has fond memories of the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

The Englishman claimed the third victory of his career at the venue back in 1997, when he was at the peak of his game, and lost out in a play-off a year later.

The 33-year-old has claimed 26 titles in his career to date but has failed to register a victory since 2003 and is looking forward to returning to a course that has been good to him in the past.

"Obviously, I have very fond memories of this place," he said. "I represented Saujana for three or four years and won here in 1997 and lost in a play-off in 1998 so I'm very happy to be back.

"The course has changed a lot. It's a lot harder than I remember but I think it's a very good test now."

The Worksop-born star admitted that his game has changed a lot since the late-90s - and not entirely for the best - but is hoping to continue his momentum from an upturn in form late last year.

"I was happy with the technical ability that I had back in 1998 and 1999 and should have stuck along the line that I was working on then," he added.

"Although I won the Order of Merit in 2000, I made some changes then that I shouldn't have. I should have worked on my short game more and tried to improve from there.

"But I finished last year well and it's all going in the right direction. Hopefully, I can continue to do well and build some confidence."

Westwood is trading at 19 to win the Malaysian Open with Thongchai Jaidee the current 8.8 favourite and Jyoti Randhawa on offer at 19.

Thomas Bjorn is available at 21 while Darren Clarke, who has slipped out of the world's top 50 for the first time in a decade, trades at 22.

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