Francesco Molinari edges Lee Westwood to win the HSBC Champions event
Francesco Molinari of Italy shot a final round 67 to edge Englishman Lee Westwood by one shot on his way to winning the HSBC Champions event on Sunday 7 November in Shanghai, China.
It marks the second victory on the European Tour for the 28-year-old and his first since winning the Telecom Italia Open in 2006. The HSBC, which is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour and the
European Tour, among other tours, is Molinari’s first World Golf Championship title of his career.
Westwood, anointed the number-one golfer in the world two weeks ago, matched Molinari’s final round 67 and finished alone in second-place, good enough to stay atop the World Golf Rankings.
Three other golfers – Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Martin Kaymer – had a chance to become number-one with some good play in the tournament.
Luke Donald of Britain and Richie Ramsay of Scotland wound up in a tie for third-place, finishing at nine-under for the event, a full 10 shots back of Molinari. Rory McIlroy of Northern
Ireland finished alone in fifth-place at eight-under at Sheshan International Golf Club.
Molinari suffered a lopsided loss to Woods in the singles session of the Ryder Cup a month ago in Wales. While he lost to the number-one player back then, this time he was victorious against
the new number-one.
"It's been four fantastic days, and especially the last two playing head-to-head with Lee was really tough," Molinari said. "I think the experience of playing with Tiger in the Ryder Cup
definitely helped me in the last couple of days, because when you are playing against number-one in the world, it is not easy to always stick to the game plan and do your game."
As for Woods, who did manage a 68 in the final round, he finished at seven-under for the event, 12 shots back of the winner. With the HSBC having been his last chance to win on the PGA
Tour this season, Woods has now suffered his first winless season on tour in 14 years.
"That's just the way it goes," he said. "It's not like I didn't try. It just didn't happen this year. But I'm pleased with the progress I've made of late. Things are building and heading
in the right direction, which is good."
Westwood and Molinari arrived at the 18th hole yesterday with Westwood trailing the Italian by two shots. Westwood had a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-five to force a play-off but it stayed
left of the hole.
"I expected it to be running down, like three or four feet," he said. "Just needed the breaks to win, and it didn't happen."
Kaymer finished in a tie for 30th while Mickelson finished tied for 41st. For all the talk of a new number-one after this week, the top four in the rankings stayed the same.
Molinari climbed to number 14 in the world with the win.
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