Lee Westwood was crowned Europe’s best golfer for the year after finishing in 2nd place at the DP World Tour Championship with Matthew Fitzpatrick claiming victory in Dubai.
It is the third time that Westwood wins the European Tour’s Race to Dubai, exactly 20 years after finishing on top of the then Order of Merit.
The 47-year-old said in the lead up to the event that another triumph will be something to behold, given how long he’s been performing on the tour.
‘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 on Sunday.
‘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.’
Fitzpatrick on the other hand claimed his first win in more than two years by carding a final-round 68 to edge Westwood by one shot for a sixth European Tour title.
Fitzpatrick started the day with a share of the lead on 11 under par alongside Laurie Canter and Patrick Reed, who led the Race to Dubai for majority of the season and was favoured to come out on top in Dubai.
But the winning score of 15 under par was enough for the 26-year-old Fitzpatrick to claim victory, while Reed finished in T3.
