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Westwood Races into the lead
19 October 2009
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Lee Westwood won his first event in more than two years at the Portugal Masters to move to the top of The Race to Dubai rankings
The Englishman displaced Rory McIlroy from the top of the standings with a two shot victory over Francesco Molinari of Italy at the Oceanico Victoria Golf Club; his first since his five shot win at the 2007 British Masters .
Westwood said: ‘It was nice to finish it off because I had started to doubt myself. You never know when your next win is going to come and until you do finish it off the question of doubt is always in the back of your mind.
I sealed the win playing as I did 10 years ago when I was winning a lot. Now that I have won again hopefully I will start winning a lot again.’
The 36-year-old won $500,000 for his efforts and moved more than $200,000 ahead of McIlroy (who finished equal 30th) in The Race to Dubai, with three events left to play until the season finale Dubai World Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 19-22.
Irishman Padraig Harrington earned $187,800 in third place after his seventh top-10 finish in eight outings and climbed to 15th place in The Race to Dubai, $1.185m behind Westwood.
With two other front-runners in The Race to Dubai, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and England’s Paul Casey , scheduled to return from lengthy injury breaks in the next fortnight, the European season is heading for a thrilling climax in Dubai.
