Westwood full of respect for French Open

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Lee Westwood will make a return to the French Open at Le Golf National this week and the Englishman has spoken highly of both the tournament and the course.

Le Golf National will host the Ryder Cup in 2018 and Westwood believes that if you can close out a tournament at the Paris track then you can win anywhere in the world.

"Historically, I've always played the French Open," Westwood started.

"There were a few years before when I didn't play, but if you go back to 1994, the first time I played here, I finished fourth behind Mark Roe. I've liked it ever since, it’s such a stern test in the last few holes.

"If you win, you prove that you can beat pretty much everyone in the world and play well under the ultimate pressure."

Westwood seems desperate to bounce back strongly from a disappointing conclusion to the US Open that saw him card an 80 in his fourth round after playing himself into contention on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

While he certainly let it slip at Oakmont, the 43-year-old insists that he is still hitting the ball well at the moment.

"Since the Masters I have been up there on the leaderboard in Ireland, and would have finished fifth with a four on the last instead of a six," he added.

"At Wentworth, I was in the second to last group on Sunday, but I had a poor round and finished 15th. Then I had a top-ten in Sweden, and was in the second to last group at the U.S. Open on Sunday. So the form is pretty good, and I'm looking forward to the stretch of events coming up."

Westwood will form part of a strong field in the French capital this week that includes the likes of Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer and Danny Willett to name but a few of the stars.

McIlroy will certainly be the favourite in France this week, while on the other side of the pond, Jason Day and US Open champion Dustin Johnson are the picks in the golf betting odds to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

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