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By Kent Gray
Lee Westwood confesses to putting on a few extra pounds over Christmas but with a four-year title drought emotionally consigned to history in South Africa in November, he’s playing like a man with a weight lifted.

Partner Helen is doing the heavy work caddying for the European Tour’s career money leader (all €36 million of it and counting) at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this week and it’s shaping as a formidable arrangement. Together they combined for an opening 66 on Wednesday, nearly as impressive as his 64 to close out the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“We just go out and have as much fun as we can. She keeps it very lighthearted for me – there’s not much chat between the shots,” Westwood said before revealing his caddie is quickly learning on the job.

“She claims to have read the 17th green correctly today. She just looked at me quizzically and said, ‘is this from the right?’…it went in, so I’ll never hear the last of that!”

The birdie on 17 cancelled out a bogey on 13, Westwood’s sole blemish, in a round that started with four successive gains in an outward 30 and ended with the 10-time Ryder Cupper four-shots shy of overnight leader Shane Lowry.

“When you go out and somebody shot 10-under, you want to shoot a decent score to feel like you’re within touch. Obviously that was a good round of Shane’s this morning and put a bit of pressure on the lads this afternoon, so it was nice to cut into that quickly with the four birdies to start.

“I putted lovely. My game was good, felt all right. When I missed fairways, struggled with that. This golf course, it seems a bit tight this year. There was a bit of a premium on hitting fairways, and I think if you do, you can score well.”