Lee Westwood claimed his 12th European Tour title and pushed his official earnings through the £4 million barrier when he defended the Smurfit European Open at The K Club with a closing 66 – the lowest round of the day – for a 12 under par total of 276.
The 27 year old Ryder Cup player from Worksop, who had come from seven shots behind to land the title last year with a 65, almost emulated that achievement but in the event his 66 proved sufficient to edge out the outstandingly consistent Argentinian, Angel Cabrera, by a stroke with Per-Ulrik Johansson in third on 278.
It was Westwood’s third victory of the season, following successes in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open TPC of Europe and the Compaq European Grand Prix. The Englishman had now won three titles or more in the last three seasons as his rise up the Official World Golf Rankings continues apace.
Westwood played so well on a squally last day in Co Kildare that he anticipated an more comfortable winning margin. Instead, Cabrera and a back-to-form Johansson hang in well and Westwood was the first to acknowledge that fact.
He said: “The way I played today I thought I would win by three or four, but they kept plugging away. Full respect to the two or them, especially Per-Ulrik who hadn’t played for a month. He did nothing wrong until the last green.”
Westwood had already secured a final birdie to reach 12 under par when the Swede lined up his eagle putt to tie. However he charged the first effort three feet past and the return horse-shoed out.
He said: “I knew I had to go for it but I rushed the first one and missed the return. It’s very disappointing, but encouraging at the same time as I haven’t played for six weeks. I still have a hip injury and I wish I knew what was causing it. It means I can’t play more than two or three at a time, but I go to Loch Lomond with more confidence now.”
Johansson finished with a 67 while Cabrera – runner-up in the Murphy’s Irish Open and sixth in this event last year – recovered from an early bogey to card five birdies in a 68. Like Johansson, he had a long range putt on the 18th for an eagle but had to settle for a deserved birdie.
Cabrera commented: “I played very well all week but it’s no disgrace to lose to one of the best players in the world. I thought a 68 would be good enough in this weather but I was wrong. Lee is a great competitor. One day soon I will win.”
Overall, the new routing of The K Club proved an unqualified success, according to Westwood.said: “It will be a fantastic Ryder Cup venue. I take back what I said the other day about it not being any different played this way.
“The 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th were a lot, lot harder than playing it the other way round. There were so many heart-in-the-mouth shots that you couldn’t imagine how hard it will be to close out a Ryder Cup match around here.”
Mathias Grönberg of Sweden, the winner two years ago, showed his liking for the course once again by shooting a last round 67 for fourth place, with Ignacio Garrido and Jarmo Sandelin sharing fifth and Darren Clarke occupying the position of top Irishman in seventh.
Clarke shot a last round 71 for a total of 282 and bemoaned a couple of bad breaks. He said: “It’s the same story every week. I didn’t get the roll of the ball. I hit a tree at the seventh and made a double bogey and went for my shot at the 16th and it also got wet.”
