In pursuit of victory, forgetting is everything for Westwood

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Lee Westwood opened with a 7-under 63 Thursday at the St. Jude Classic, where he leads by one.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Any good shooter in basketball or any relief pitcher worth his weight in baseballs has a memory that's damn near amnesiac. Apparently, so does Lee Westwood.

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He forgot that it was just three months ago that he'd played a tournament for the first time, which is something he's doing this week at the St. Jude Classic presented by Smith & Nephew.

He forgot that TPC Southwind is a par-70, which explains why for a brief moment he thought he had a shot at a 59 after making the turn in 29 in Thursday's opening round.

He's also apparently forgotten about all those close calls -- the tie for fourth at THE PLAYERS Championship and a runner-up at the Masters being the most recent. Both were tournaments he led going into the last day. At the Masters, Westwood had the Green Jacket stolen from him; at THE PLAYERS, the crystal slipped more and more through his fingers with each of his 74 strokes in the final round.

Not that Westwood would remember.How could he? Because how else could you explain Westwood having to dust himself off more than Pig-Pen?

Westwood's struggles have been well documented: Goose egg for the last dozen years in America, goose egg-for-51 in majors, etc. Yet he keeps getting up.

This year, Westwood has four top-10s in seven events on the PGA TOUR. No wins. Yet here he is in Memphis, leading the St. Jude Classic after a sizzling 7-under 63.

"I wasn't even aware I shot 29 on the front nine," Westwood said.

Then he added, "It's been a long time since I played a course for the first time. Actually no, that's a lie, I just played The Honda Classic for the first time this year. I finished in the top 10. That was pretty good."

So was Westwood on Thursday. Through his first 10 holes, he had 11 putts, one-putting all but one hole. Not that he remembered. In fact, Westwood had to look down at his scorecard to make sure.

"Anytime you're 7 under through 10, you have to putt well," Westwood said. "Like I said, one from about 30 feet on 15 -- 12, 14, 16 were ones you would expect to hole. Left them in the right place, straight uphill, 3 feet."

Actually it was 26 feet on No. 15, according to Shot Link. And only one of those other three -- the putt on No. 16 -- came from the 3-foot range. The others were from 7 and 9 feet. We're talking semantics, though.

On the day, Westwood hit a dozen greens and took just 24 putts on a ball-striker's golf course that fits his game perfectly, which partly explains why he's here in the first place.

It's the week before another major championship and Westwood feels it's more important to go into the U.S. Open off a competitive round than spend the week adapting to the conditions. Not that he hasn't prepared himself -- Westwood played 27 holes at Pebble Beach on Sunday and another 18 on Monday morning before coming to Memphis.

Speaking of the U.S. Open, it's a tournament Westwood came so agonizingly close to winning in 2008. But he missed a 15-footer for birdie on the final hole of regulation to miss a playoff with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate. In 2000, the last time the U.S. Open was held at Pebble Beach, Westwood recalled finishing fifth there.

That was 10 years ago and he remembers?

Now if he can only forget one more time all the other occasions he's been in this position over the past decade, Westwood should be just fine.