Lee Westwood will begin his quest for US PGA Championship success tomorrow on a wave of momentum and confidence rather than disappointment following his Open Championship near-miss.

Westwood missed out on a play-off for the Claret Jug with Tom Watson and Stewart Cink by just one stroke at Turnberry last month as he settled for a tie for third place.

The Englishman, currently ranked 13th in the world, returned to action last week at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and made it four top-10 finishes in a row with a final-round 65.

That earned him ninth place at Firestone Country Club and gave him the perfect boost heading to Hazeltine National this week.

“It’s very important,” said Westwood. “I hit it pretty good, very good tee-to-green most of the week.

“I didn’t make enough putts the second and third days. I had loads of chances, and then just rolled a couple of 10 and 15-footers in the last day and that has given me impetus and momentum coming into this week.

“Because you can play well and finish 27th, 28th being level par the last round and won’t really do you that much good. But if you shoot 65 and finish ninth, it’s obviously a big difference mentally.”

With the US PGA following hot on the heels of Turnberry, Westwood said he was grateful to be competing at a major again so soon after his Open finish when he bogeyed the last to fall out of a tie with Cink.

“It’s helpful that the majors are only four weeks apart,” he said. “You know, if I would have had that third-place finish this week, with eight months to think about it between this and the Masters, then that would have been a bit trickier.

“There’s a lot of big tournaments this time of year that I can use the confidence again from the Open Championship to go into. So that’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Westwood, who won the first of his 18 European Tour victories aged 23 in 1996, believes he is better equipped to win majors aged 36 than he was nine years ago when he won five tournaments in one season.

He continued: “I feel I’m a better player now than I was in 2000. I feel better equipped for the bigger tournaments now than in 2000, certainly.

“Less weaknesses in my game, short game is obviously a lot stronger. I think I hit the ball a little bit better tee-to-green as well. I think that’s improved.”

Having been a stroke away from a US Open play-off with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in 2008, followed by his Turnberry experience last month, Westwood said it made him even more convinced he had what it takes to eventually securing a major victory.

“I think just missing out on the play-off by a shot at Torrey Pines, and then again three weeks ago at the Open, is not just a coincidence.

“It’s the fact that my game has improved a lot, and especially my short game has improved a lot.

“Results like that make me go home, sit down and think. I’m obviously continually proving to myself that I’m good enough to win a major, and it’s just a case of keep repeating the same process and getting in there over and over again and eventually winning one.”