On the heels of back-to-back high-profile Sunday finishes on the PGA Tour – going head-to-head with two of the biggest stars in the game, first Bryson DeChambeau, then Justin Thomas, the image of Lee Westwood has changed drastically.

Generally players who finish even-par 70 are not asked to be part of the interview process, but Westwood has become an interesting storyline this week in Palm Beach Gardens.

In as little as two weeks time, the 47-year old Englishman has become something of a fan and media favorite amid this season’s Florida Swing.

Two birdies on the final two holes caps a first-round 70 (E) for ⁦@WestwoodLee⁩ at ⁦@TheHondaClassic⁩ pic.twitter.com/AxZdqmYdnq

— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 18, 2021

So following his first round at The Honda Classic, Westwood, 47, took a few questions from the media on hand at PGA National.

Here’s a roundup:

Q: Talk about your round.

Lee Westwood: “Hung in there and kind of, obviously a good finish. So it’s always nice to finish birdie, birdie around this place and I think 70’s a pretty good start.

“I think, obviously, it’s a little bit tougher in the afternoon, when you look through the scores, and I think anybody probably would take under par or even even par is not disappointing. So, yeah, something to build on for tomorrow morning.”

Q: Are you worried about starting so early tomorrow morning?

Lee Westwood: No, not at all. No, looking forward to getting out of there. Hopefully the wind will be pretty calm for the first couple of hours and make a few birdies and get into this thing.

Q: What were you most happy with today?

Westwood: Just the fact that I was patient and just ground it out. I didn’t have too much of a game, I hit a few poor shots. I found myself in a lot of bunkers. But I thought the bunker game was good and I made some nice up-and-downs. And those are the ones you need to kind of keep the momentum going on a grinding day. I didn’t think it was easy out there.

Q: Matt Jones kind of made it look easy. What did you think when you saw the 61 go up on the board?

Lee Westwood: I thought he had a couple to play. Yeah, that’s an incredible round of golf. Could be the round of the year. 61 around here when it’s flat calm is the best of it, but when there’s a 15, 20 mile an hour wind blowing, greens are fast, a lot of cross winds, that’s an incredible round of golf. I played with him the first two rounds at Bay Hill and he missed the cut and I was quite surprised, I thought he played a lot better than his scoring suggested. He’s got nice low draw, good ball flight for this wind and I’m not surprised to see him shoot a good score, I thought he was kind of on the edge of playing well when I played with him at Bay Hill.

Q: How ready are you for a little bit of rest?

Lee Westwood: Yes, a week off would be nice. But not making any excuses, if you sign up to play a tournament, you try your hardest and you accept, you know, kind of the shape that you’re in. So yeah, just try and get a good night sleep and just refueling and hydrating and being ready for the next day.