Westwood clinches Race to Dubai title
Lee Westwood clinched the Race to Dubai title to end a season as the European Tour’s No. 1 player for the third time, at the age of 47, after a crazy finish to the DP World
Tour Championship won in dramatic circumstances by Matt Fitzpatrick on Sunday.
Westwood finished in second place outright on 14-under par after a 4under 68 in his final round, which was enough to jump to the top of the Race to Dubai standings — but only after meltdowns by his rivals in the final holes at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Patrick Reed, seeking to become the first American to be Europe’s top player, bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to drop out of contention for the Race to Dubai title. Then Laurie Canter double-bogeyed No. 17 and could only par the last, leaving Westwood alone in second.
Fitzpatrick made par at No. 18 for a one-shot victory to win the tour’s seasonending event for the second time, after 2016, but Westwood was already celebrating a bigger prize after watching the final holes in the scoring hut with his girlfriend-caddie.
“It was a great finish,” Westwood said. “I sat there watching it — it’s always exciting this tournament, coming down the stretch and there’s always thrills and spills.
“There was the Race to Dubai up for the grabs, the tournament. It was an exciting end to the year.
It’s hard to quantify.”
Westwood won what was formerly known as the Order of Merit title for the first time 20 years ago at Valderrama, and again in 2009 in Dubai.
U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN
The latest U.S. Women’s Open on the calendar will last one more day because of relentless rain that drenched Champions Golf Club in Houston and forced the USGA to suspend the final round until Monday.
Hinako Shibuno of Japan, who had a one-shot lead as she goes for a second major, never teed off.
The USGA moved up tee times as early as possible Sunday because of the forecast, and the final round was just over an hour old when thunderstorms in the area caused play to be stopped. It never resumed, with about threequarters of an inch of rain falling before there was no point in trying to restart.
The turf in the December climate doesn’t drain as quickly. Plus, heavy rain soaked the course Friday after the second round. There was standing water across Champions even during spells when the rain subsided.
The U.S. Women’s Open was postponed from early June because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be the first Monday finish for the U.S. Women’s Open since So Yeon Ryu won at The Broadmoor in Colorado in 2011.
QBE SHOOTOUT
Matt Kuchar and Harris English broke a bunch of their own QBE Shootout records in a runaway victory at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples. Kuchar and English became the first team to win the event three times, finished at 37-under 179 to break the mark of 34 under they set in 2013, and won by nine strokes to top their 2013 record of seven. Five strokes ahead after an 11-under 61 on Saturday in modified alternate-shot play, Kuchar and English shot a 60 in better-ball play.