Westwood captures 25th Euro tour victory

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Lee Westwood secured his 25th European Tour win with victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Sunday.

Westwood, who had a one-shot overnight lead, has now won in four different decades starting in the 1990s. The Englishman’s 5-under par final-round 67 gave him a two-shot margin over a chasing pack of France’s Victor Perez (63) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (63) and Matthew Fitzpatrick (67) who all finished on 271.

Bernd Wiesberger and second-round leader Francesco Laporta, who both started the final round one back of Westwood, had their challenge fall away after rounds of 72 and 74.

Top-ranked Brooks Koepka finished joint 34th with an 8-under 280 after a 69 in the final round, 11 back of Westwood.

It was Koepka’s first tournament since returning from a knee injury he aggravated in October when he slipped while walking off the tee at the CJ Cup in South Korea. He previously had stem cell treatment for a partially torn tendon in his patella.

Westwood, a former world No. 1-ranked player, was challenged throughout the final round.

Fitzpatrick, who was two shots off Westwood before the start of the day, got off to a strong start and an impressive front nine saw him pile on the pressure but the 46year-old former world No. 1 kept his cool and continued to putt well to secure his victory.

“It’s been a good week,” Westwood told europeantour.com. “I wasn’t really paying any attention to what other people were doing.”