Lee Westwood crowned Europe’s number one golfer for third time

over 3 years in The Irish Times

Matt Fitzpatrick held his nerve to claim victory in the DP World Tour Championship as an incredible late twist saw Lee Westwood win the Race to Dubai.
Fitzpatrick secured the first prize of £2.2million thanks to a closing 68 which left him 15 under par and a shot clear of Westwood, with Patrick Reed and Viktor Hovland another stroke back.
Outright second was enough for Westwood to pip Fitzpatrick to the Harry Vardon Trophy by just 17.8 points, with long-time leader Reed pushed down to third place.
Westwood had birdied the 16th and 18th to set the clubhouse target, but at the time only shared second with Laurie Canter to leave Fitzpatrick on course to top the money list.
However, Canter made a double bogey on the 17th and was unable to produce the eagle on the par-five 18th which would have denied Westwood a third Order of Merit title, 20 years after the first.
At 47, Westwood is the oldest winner by five years, Colin Montgomerie having won the last of his eight titles aged 42 in 2005.
Reed had looked on course to become the first American to top the money list on this side of the Atlantic when he chipped in for birdie on the 15th to move into outright second, but bogeyed the 16th and 17th.
The former Masters champion had taken a 460-point lead into the start of the week, but with 2,000 points on offer to the winner, it had still been mathematically possible for 61 of the 65-man field to finish top of the money list.
Collated final round scores and totals in the DP World Tour Championship (UK unless stated, par 72):
273 Matthew Fitzpatrick 68 68 69 68
274 Lee Westwood 70 68 68 68
275 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 71 69 66 69, Patrick Reed (USA) 70 64 71 70
276 Laurie Canter 71 66 68 71, Sami Valimaki (Fin) 69 69 69 69
278 Victor Perez (Fra) 67 74 69 68
279 Tyrrell Hatton 69 68 72 70, Branden Grace (Rsa) 72 66 72 69
281 Adri Arnaus (Spa) 71 68 67 75, Andy Sullivan 71 71 67 72, Tommy Fleetwood 69 69 74 69, Collin Morikawa (USA) 72 70 69 70
282 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 70 71 72, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 76 67 72 67, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 70 77 66 69, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 71 71 70 70, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 68 73 70 71, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 72 73 70 67, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 75 66 73 68, Sungjae Im (Kor) 75 70 68 69, Sean Crocker ((USA)) 70 76 67 69
283 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 74 68 71 70, Shaun Norris (Rsa) 72 69 71 71, Robert Macintyre 68 72 66 77, Brandon Stone (Rsa) 73 71 67 72, Tom Lewis 78 68 71 66, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 79 70 67 67
284 Matt Wallace 72 71 70 71, George Coetzee (Rsa) 71 72 70 71, Thomas Detry (Bel) 74 73 69 68
285 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 76 69 68 72, Robert Rock 73 73 72 67, Marc Warren 72 72 68 73, Danny Willett 72 67 69 77
286 Callum Shinkwin 70 71 71 74, Jamie Donaldson 70 75 69 72, Antoine Rozner (Fra) 75 73 70 68, Connor Syme 73 73 72 68, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 76 71 69 70, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 71 72 73, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 71 70 75 70
287 Wil Besseling (Ned) 72 73 69 73, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 74 72 71 70, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 73 71 72, Ian Poulter 74 68 71 74
288 Jordan Smith 74 72 71 71
289 Justin Harding (Rsa) 77 69 68 75, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 74 70 72, Scott Jamieson 74 70 74 71
290 Ross Fisher 73 75 70 72, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 76 68 78 68, Aaron Rai 72 76 73 69
291 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 74 76 69 72, Eddie Pepperell 78 73 69 71, John Catlin (USA) 75 74 69 73
292 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 73 73 76, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 72 74 72 74, Gavin Green (Mal) 70 78 74 70
293 Renato Paratore (Ita) 75 73 70 75
294 Marcus Armitage 73 74 76 71, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 75 77 70 72
296 Sam Horsfield 77 74 73 72
299 Grant Forrest 75 74 75 75

Share it on