Westwood targeting Faldo's Ryder Cup record

Unbeaten in his last 10 games against the Americans - his last defeat was in the singles to Scott Verplank at The Belfry in 2002 - the Worksop golfer is already up to 15 1/2 points in his cup career.

Faldo is the record-holder with 25 points, and Westwood said: "I've looked at the statistics, and that is a goal."

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Ever since he made his debut as Faldo's partner at Valderrama in 1997, Westwood has never been rested from a session - and even when chosen as a wild card by Ian Woosnam two years ago, he responded with three wins and two halves from his five matches.

"No wonder I always look tired on the Monday after - nothing to do with the parties," he joked. Westwood was speaking in London, where he was helping to launch the Financial Times Anglo Irish Bank business championship.

The former European number one certainly looked and sounded like a player also ready to capture his first major title - if Tiger Woods gives him a chance.

After winning his last six tournaments, Woods is everybody's favourite for next month's Masters and may never have a better opportunity to achieve golf's first grand slam.

But Westwood's renewed zest for the sport, after he slumped from fourth in the world to outside the top 250, has already brought results - he is back up to 20th in the rankings - and with Augusta now only five weeks away, the British Masters champion said: "I feel closer to a major than ever before.

"I like all the major venues this year and I feel ready to have a second career and kick on. But all the work I've been doing is not just about what happens in 2008; it's about what happens in 2018. I'll still be only 44 then."

In the last 18 months his waist measurement has come down from 40 to 34 inches; yet he actually weighs more because his fat has turned into muscle under the guidance of trainer Steve McGregor, a sports science doctor.

"It feels like I'm hitting the ball an extra 15-20 yards since I started working out. I'm able to hit it harder, and all the movements are right," he reported.

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With attention being paid to his short game as well - former Tour player Mark Roe has been helping him there - Westwood is certainly hoping to improve on his best-ever finish at Augusta, sixth in 1999.

After opening rounds of 79 and 73 last year, he said: "Augusta just asks too many questions that there's no answer to. There are only six or seven people in the field who can win it."

Two days later, of course, Zach Johnson produced a massive upset - winning despite not going for a par five in two all week and disproving the theory that the lengthened course was only for the big-hitters.

"It will be interesting to see what happens this year," stated Westwood. "There's definitely a way to play Augusta. I'm a naturally aggressive player, but I will have to rein it in and remember where I am."

His countdown takes him to Florida for the next two weeks - the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, followed by the CA world championship in Miami - but he has now decided to return to Europe after that and defend his Andalucia Open title in Spain and then rest rather than play in the Houston Open the week before Augusta.