Westy, Poults have work to do

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July 2, 2010

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are both playing catch-up at the Alstom French Open in Paris – and not just on the leaderboard.

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are both playing catch-up at the Alstom French Open in Paris – and not just on the leaderboard.
The two British stars resume at Le Golf National this morning trailing Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen by seven and nine shots respectively.
But Westwood and Poulter also considered themselves to be at a disadvantage in yesterday’s opening round because they were unable to play in the eve-of-the-tournament pro-am.
Westwood spent Wednesday afternoon in hospital having a swollen right leg looked at. He was initially told it could be a blood clot or even a deep vein thrombosis, but further tests put his mind at rest.
“I think I’ve got an injury in there somewhere,” said the world number three, who began with a one under par 70 and is in a tie for 30th.
“I think it wants rest and I have a couple of weeks after The Open when I can put my feet up.”
Although he lost a play-off to German Martin Kaymer last year Westwood added: “The course was a bit of a surprise to me and I didn’t get the pace of the greens very well.
“The leg’s a bit sore and stiff and the ankle is still swollen, but it’s one of them things. It’s age probably!
“Once I knew it was not what they suspected I was always going to play, but I tried to work my way into it easily.”
Poulter, who suffered a bad reaction to an insect bite on his shin, three-putted two of the last three greens in his 72.
“I got round all right, but it was itching the whole day and driving me crazy,” he said.
“It flared up in the heat and walking round, but I’ll go and ice it.”