Westwood triumph and tears
Lee in tears as he nets first big title in 7 years
NO WONDER Lee Westwood could not hold back the tears after his stunning threeshot victory in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa yesterday.
You have to go back seven years — to this tournament — to find his last triumph in an event with a field so strong, as he held off two major champions down the stretch in Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen.
Seven years that had seen the Englishman let any number of chances to win slip through his fingers. Seven years that had seen him go through the mill off the course, with a nasty divorce and an unpleasant split from the only manager he had ever known. Seven years that had seen him move from his late 30s to the nether world of his mid- 40s. Somehow, Westwood cast all that mental baggage to one side to card one of the great final rounds of his illustrious career for his 24th European Tour win and his 43rd success in all.
Trailing Garcia by three shots overnight and Oosthuizen by two with eight holes to go, the 45-year-old from Worksop surged past both of them with a brilliant back nine completed in 31 strokes for a 64.
‘I’m feeling pretty emotional right now,’ said Westwood, who had his partner Helen Storey as caddie. ‘I’ve still got it, I guess. All day I did a great job of keeping my emotions in check, which I’ve been working on. It just feels so good to do it under pressure and against two quality players.’
The victory moves Westwood from 119th in the world into the top 65 and continues his fine recent form that saw him lose out in a sudden death play-off for the Made in Denmark tournament and push Garcia all the way at the Andalucia Masters.
After this fourth victory at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City — he also won this title in 2010 and 2011, plus another tournament staged there in 2000 — Westwood now moves on to another of his favourite courses for the final event in the Race to Dubai.
A winner of the DP World Tour Championship held at Jumeirah in 2009, he will train his sights on another good week towards his goal of moving back into the world’s top 50 at the year’s end and getting back to the Masters — a tournament he missed last year for the first time since 2004.
Westwood’s success is the latest in an astonishing run for England’s golfers on the European Tour. Of the last dozen events, seven have been claimed by Englishmen — Paul Waring, Matt Wallace, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tom Lewis, Eddie Pepperell, Justin Rose and now Westwood.
Garcia finished second but rightly didn’t beat himself up. ‘All credit to Lee, he clearly went out and won the tournament on merit,’ he said.
Local favourite Oosthuizen finished third and Rory McIlroy’s poor form continued, as he shot 71 to finish tied 21st. The Northern Irishman will also be in Dubai to play the final event of his disappointing season.