Westwood knocking on the door again, but can he finally open it?

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. ?Almost all signs point to Lee Westwood not winning THE PLAYERS Championship.
?He抯 0-for-America in the last 12 years.
?An Brit hasn抰 won this tournament in more than two decades.
?He抯 0-for-51 in major championships and while this isn抰 a major, it抯 a major deal.
?Seventeen of the 28 winners of THE PLAYERS Championship have trailed going into the final round.
?He抯 Lee Westwood and this is what he does. He teases us. He tempts us. He抯 lures us in with the charming accent and a personality to match.
Not that any of this matters to Westwood, of course. Just a month ago, he actually cracked a smile and a joke in his post-round press conference after the final round of the Masters, even though he had the Green Jacket stolen from him.
Who does that? A guy who thinks not winning a golf tournament isn抰 the worst thing in the world, that抯 who. Maybe it was because he had it stolen, too.
"No, I don抰 feel any pressure," said Westwood, who shot a 2-under 70 Saturday to take a one-shot lead to the final round at TPC Sawgrass. "The only pressure is what you put on yourself, and I don抰 really put any pressure on myself to win here again.
"The only thing I try to do is perform as well as I know I can perform and peak at the right times for the big events. So far this year I抳e managed to do it two times in a row, so I抦 not saying it wouldn抰 be nice to win again over here, but it抯 not something I put pressure on myself to do."
Westwood is certainly right about his play. He抯 the first player in 33 years to own the 54-hole lead at the Masters and THE PLAYERS in the same year. He抯 also extremely comfortable with having the bulls-eye on his back, even if he has to keep getting up to dust himself off.
"I抦 just really pleased with myself that I keep knocking on the door and getting in position," Westwood said. "Some of the golf I抦 playing in some of the big tournaments is great stuff."
It was only a month ago that Westwood already had one arm in that Green Jacket. He shot 71 in the final round; Mickelson 67. Westwood didn抰 do much wrong that Sunday, but he took plenty away from it and here he is again, hoping not to learn one more time.
"I spent a couple weeks afterwards reflecting on it, how close I抎 come," Westwood said. "I learned plenty of things about what to do at the right times and where my game needs to improve and learned a lot of stuff about myself. That抯 what experiences like that are all about."
Adam Scott knows what those experiences are like, too. He had a world of talent and expectation. He was going to be the next Tiger Woods. He was also one of the players who led THE PLAYERS going into Sunday and managed to hang on to win in 2004, despite hitting his approach shot into the water on the 72nd hole.
"It抯 really tough [to keep the lead Sunday] because it抯 a course that rewards good golf in a big way and if you struggle it抯 easy to make bogeys," Scott said. "If you抮e in the lead and you get a bit nervous and defensive, bogeys can come quick."
Late in Saturday抯 round Westwood sure didn抰 look nervous, even as he pushed his tee shot on the 18th hole to the right and his ball came to rest in a storm drain. Westwood took his drop, hit under one branch, over a tree and made his par.
"I think when you抮e playing well you don抰 really see the penalties," Westwood said. "You probably shouldn抰. You should just see the middle of the fairway and the flag."
Despite his Masters heartache, Westwood continues to do just that. See the flag. Now he just hopes he can see the finish.
"It was nice to get back in the saddle so quickly," Westwood said. "I抳e got thoughts of the Masters fresh in my mind. I played pretty well the last day there, and if I had just done a couple of things slightly different at the right times, maybe the result would have been different."
Maybe this time it will be.

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