A bogey-free final round 67 was good enough for England’s Lee Westwood (-19) to claim victory at the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship as he added a 25th European Tour win to his career, writes ANDRE HUISAMEN.
Westwood, who is now the only player to have won on the European Tour over four decades, continued his fine form into Sunday after a superb third round of 65 put him at the top of the leaderboard.
And he never quite looked to be in any major trouble as he hit the ground running with four birdies on the front nine.
He had to dig a bit deeper on the back nine, though, and show some composure, especially after dropping a shot on the 16th hole and following the brilliant rounds by Victor Perez and Tommy Fleetwood, which saw them finish on 17 under par and two shots behind the 2018 Nedbank Golf Challenge champion.
The pair lit up the final day of the competition with respective rounds of 63 as Perez made an important eagle on the par 5, 18th hole, while Fleetwood carded nine birdies for the day.
Another Englishman, Matthew Fitzpatrick, joined Perez and Fleetwood in T2 position after his round of 67, making a valuable birdie on the 18th hole.
But in the end Westwood avoided any further slip ups and finished in absolute style as he birdied the 18th hole to start 2020 on the best possible note.
Louis Oosthuizen finished as the highest placed South African on Sunday following a good round of 66, which saw him finish the competition on 15 under par and in 5th position.
The 37-year-old managed to go bogey-free for the round but similar to his third round, Oosthuizen left some chances out on the course, missing a few birdie chances towards the end of his round.
Shaun Norris also made a drastic surge up the leaderboard with his final round of 65 that saw him finish in T6 on 14 under par, while Erik van Rooyen also had a good day with a round of 66 as he ended on 12 under par in T12.
