Lee Westwood goes into the 90th USPGA Championship at Oakland Hills buoyed by his second place finish in the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, at Firestone Country Club, on Sunday.

Despite coming up a shot shy of forcing a play-off just as he had in the US Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club nearly two months earlier, the 35-year-old, was in an upbeat mood as he began preparations to return to the scene of Europe’s massacre of America in the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Lee Westwood was Europe’s leading points scorer as Bernhard Langer’s team racked up a record victory four years ago at the Michigan golf club.

Speaking after his final round in Ohio, the Worksop wonder said: "I think it will give me confidence. You know, things like seven do happen, and to come back from that was great, because it's never easy playing this golf course.

“They're not easy holes. You have to hit it in the fairways, which I did mostly and gave myself good birdie chances.

Lee Westwood recovered magnificently from a double bogey after bunker trouble on the seventh that took him from a share of the lead to five shots behind Vijay Singh after carding a bogey at the eighth.

Lee Westwood added: “I got 11 holes to pick five shots up and very nearly managed it. I've just got to sort of shake it off and start again. A blip is a blip.

“My distance control and my irons were good and I thought I handled the pressure pretty good.

“I know it's not easy to finish off around this golf course because a lot can happen on the back nine. They're not easy holes.

The 35-year-old believes he felt the benefit of having gone down the stretch with Tiger Woods at La Jolia, in San Diego, when he missed a birdie putt on the last to force a play-off with Tiger Woods, and Rocco Mediate.

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