By Rahul Banerji
One stage and two wins it was for England golfers Matthew Fitzpatrick and Lee Westwood on Sunday at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.
The former took a second title at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, while for Westwood, a second-place finish behind Fitzpatrick sealed a third Harry Vardon Trophy that goes to the European number one at year’s end.
Westwood’s Order of Merit win was his third in all and came 20 years after he won it for the first time.
Fitzpatrick came into Sunday with a share of the lead but four birdies in his first seven holes all but sealed victory at the lucrative event with a 15-under total after a final day 4-under 68.
The 26-year-old was run close in the end by Westwood (14-under), Patrick Reed and Vicktor Hovland (both 13-under) though he missed out on the Race to Dubai title.
Tight race
Fitzpatrick, Reed and Laurie Canter were all in the running for the year-ending title but needed Westwood to finish lower down the order than he eventually did.
The 47-year-old however, knocked in birdies on two of his last three holes to grab sole second place. That gave him enough points to seal the Order of Merit on the Earth Course at Jumeirah with a 68 of his own.
Reed had led the Race to Dubai standings coming into the week but saw his challenge disappear with two late bogeys. He was seeking to become the first American to take the season’s honours.
Westwood won his first European Order of Merit back in 2000 and again at the DP World Tour Championship which handed him the inaugural Race to Dubai crown.
He then went four years without a win.
Long wait
“It’s been 20 years since I sat there at Valderrama and finished second in the American Express Championship to win the Volvo Order of Merit as it was back then,” he said later.
“I won here in 2009 to win the Race to Dubai and now I’ve finished second to win it today.
“They have all been very different. I guess 2000, sort of I was winning a lot, but I was still up and coming. It was only my seventh year on Tour.
“2009, I was honing in on the best player in the world spot, and I needed to win here to win the Race to Dubai, and I managed to do that.
“And then this one, I’m kind of the more mature player on the European Tour now. It wasn’t something I set out to do at the start of the year, but it shows the consistency I’ve shown.
“The motivation’s never changed, really. I get to get up each day and do the job I love. I’ve always wanted to be a golfer and I don’t want it to end.”
Good finish
For Fitzpatrick, it was all about finishing well in trying to add to his five earlier European Tour wins.
“The start I got off to, four birdies in the first four, five under through seven, it’s a dream start,” he was quoted as saying..
“Fortunately I managed to pull away from that and really sort of create some distance.
“It was a bit of a grind on the back nine. For me it was just about finishing one hole at a time and just getting through it. So managed to do that and finished well.
“I had no idea about the Race to Dubai because I knew where I started the week at 16, a lot needed to go my way.
“When I saw Lee at second, it did enter my head briefly going to 18, even if I win it’s probably not going to be enough, anyway. I just wanted to win a lot this week.”
Westwood’s final margin over second-placed Fitzpatrick was eventually a mere 27.6 points over the season, 3,128.0 to 3,110.2.
Shubhankar Sharma was the best-placed Indian in 139th with 217.6 points and S.S.P. Chawrasia in 216th,
Race to Dubai top 5
- Lee Westwood (Eng) 3,128.0 points from 15 events
- Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3,110.2 pts from 10 events
- Patrick Reed (USA) 3,103.7 pts from 8 events
- Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 2,182.6 pts from 11 events
- Collin Morikawa (USA) 2,096.6 pts from 6 events
Also read: European Tour, PGA Tour announce landmark tie-up
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