Lee Westwood bags the Thailand Golf Championship title in Bangkok
World number three and former world number one, Lee Westwood, relies mostly on his favourite hunting ground, the Asian turf, to strengthen his position on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) and is known to be one of the most successful player all over
the world. He proved it yet again at the Thailand Golf Championship in Bangkok, where he broke the course record in the opening rounds and finally won the event on the final day.
Westwood posted a final round score of 69 to settle for an aggregate of 22-under, 266, a whooping seven shots clear of the Master champion Charl Schwartzel. Westwood owed much of his final round success to the opening round where he posted lowest round of
his career.
Westwood never seemed to be in trouble with the rest of the field but still gave Schwartzel the run for his money. He birdied second and third holes and while Schwartzel birdied the 12th, Westwood took over the challenge and birdied the same.
He sank another on the 13th to comfortably win the title.
“It was nice to hole on top of Charl on 12 and then make the one on 13, it took the pressure off a little bit.” Westwood said. “I wasn’t happy until I was on that boat coming back from the island on 17 with a big lead.”
American Michael Thompson finished for an outright third while, sturdy Simon Dyson finished for a joint fourth with an aggregate of 12-under. Dyson carded a round of 69, pulling in six birdies and dropping three shots through the 18-hole stretch, to finish
for a joint fourth alongside Thai player Chawalit Plaphol. Germany’s Alex Cejka also pulled in a 67 to finish for eighth.
Westwood will now be making the turn for the next year, building up his momentum to win his first major title of his career. Despite being one of the most successful golfers in the recent years, the Englishman has not won a major title and is often criticised
for the same.
“I’m going to continue to work on my fitness and all aspects of my game. I’m going in the right direction, I can see a lot of improvement and I’m happy with the way I’ve finished the year, I’ve won two out of my last three events.” He said.
The 38-year-old veteran has won several titles throughout the year, including consecutive victories on the Asian Tour. He also won events on the European Tour but his success ratio on the PGA Tour has remained off the hook for some reason. Westwood, along
with the current number two Rory McIlroy have now decided to join the PGA Tour in a bid to expand their horizons and probably win the Player of the Year titles on both sides of the Atlantic, following in the footsteps of world number Luke Donald.
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