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| Westwood sinks the winning putt to take home $2.37million [AFP] |
Lee Westwood hailed the "biggest moment of his career" after notching a European Tour double by winning the season-ending Dubai World Championship and the Race to Dubai money-list title.
It came as he downed Rory McIlroy’s hopes of becoming the second-youngest winner of the European order of merit, after the 20-year-old Northern Irishman had arrived in the United Arab Emirates as European number one.
An imperious eight-under-par 64 gave Westwood a final 23-under total of 265 on Sunday and a runaway six-stroke win over fellow Briton Ross McGowan (68).
McIlroy, with 67, was third on 273.
Englishman Westwood picked up $2.37million for his double triumph.
Flawless
"The way I played today under this much pressure and the circumstances of it all was about as good as I've ever played," Westwood said after a flawless eight-birdie round.
"It's easily the biggest moment in my golfing career so far.
"I knew what I had to do and to go out and shoot 66-64 at the weekend, making no bogeys, gives me a lot of confidence for the future.
"My commiserations go out to Rory."
A dejected McIlroy, who could have been the youngest order of merit winner since Seve Ballesteros in 1976, said: "Every time I looked up at the leaderboard Lee was making birdies.
"He played unbelievable golf and fair play to him. Lee's different class and he deserves to be number one."
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