Inicio News Westwood seals Rolex Series double in Abu Dhabi

Westwood seals Rolex Series double in Abu Dhabi

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Lee Westwood. © Getty Images
Lee Westwood. © Getty Images

Lee Westwood produced a brilliant final round display to win his second Rolex Series title, his 25th event on the European Tour, and take his winning run into a fourth decade at the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA.

The Englishman entered the final day with a one shot lead and, while he was briefly caught, he was never passed, carding a round of 67 to get to 19 under par and finish two shots ahead of countrymen Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood, and Frenchman Victor Perez.

Fleetwood – a two time winner at this event – signed for a 63 and his lowest round at Abu Dhabi Golf Club on his 29th birthday, while 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship winner Perez matched him for the lowest round of his European Tour career.

Five-time European Tour winner Fitzpatrick went bogey free in a round of 67  but the day belonged to 46-year-old Westwood, who won his 25th title 23 years, five months and 16 days after his maiden victory at the 1996 Volvo Scandinavian Masters.

The former World Number One also became the eighth man to win multiple Rolex Series events, joining countrymen Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose and Danny Willett, Swede Alex Noren, Austrian Bernd Wiesberger and four time winner Jon Rahm.

South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen finished in fifth place at 15 under par, a shot clear of countryman Shaun Norris and England’s Ross Fisher, with Wiesberger, three time champion Martin Kaymer, Major winner Sergio Garcia and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson at 13 under par.

Player quotes

Lee Westwood: “Ecstatic, elated, a bit emotional. Just great to keep playing well and know you’re still good enough. I put in a lot of hard work with Phil Kenyon and I’ve been working with Ben Davis on the psychological part of it, but I really felt quite calm on the greens this week and rolled a lot of good putts.

“That was the key to winning, really. You’ve got to putt well to win any tournament, but especially these in the desert because the greens are so immaculate, you know that everybody is going to hole their putts.

“I was trying not to look at leaderboards. I peeked at a few on the way around the back nine and I could see that Victor (Perez) shot nine under and Tommy (Fleetwood) had shot nine under and finished 17 under. Bogeyed 16, but it was a nice, solid birdie at the last and hit two good shots on 17, as well. Some quality golf.

“It’s a long time when you say it. I won my first tournament in 1996 in Sweden. I won that tournament, Scandinavian Masters, in three different decades, and now won here this week. The 20s could be the ones for me.”

Tommy Fleetwood: “It was good, really good. Felt like the whole week gradually got better. Felt like I played so good yesterday and hit a couple of ropey drives and missed a couple of putts and five under was really the worst the round could have been and then today just got out and played great, really.

“It’s weird, a little disappointed on the last, but you couldn’t really complain about a 63 on the final day. Looks like Lee is playing great. I’m happy to have put a weekend’s golf in and it’s a nice start to the year.”

Matt Fitzpatrick: “Apart from one missed putt, wouldn’t take a shot back. That’s a great feeling, despite not enough to win, it’s been a great week.

“Front nine I felt like could I hole everything and managed to hole one putt for par, which was nice to keep a bit of momentum going. On the back nine, just couldn’t make a thing. It was just one of those days, but hey, that’s golf. I’m delighted. It’s a great start to the year.”

Victor Perez: “I felt like I had a really good off-season preparing for the upcoming 2020 season, and obviously very pleased to be able to hold a fourth round on the first event of the year. Just thrive on these moments. I think you take a lot from it, and you try to take all the positives.

“I think it shows you that you can do it at this level. Obviously you come into these types of tournaments feeling a lot more comfortable compared to 12 months ago when this was my second Rolex Series event. So obviously it’s a lot different than it was 12 months ago. It shows how quickly things can go in this game and obviously I’m going to try to keep on going.”

Final scores

269 L Westwood (Eng) 69 68 65 67,
271 V Perez (Fra) 70 70 68 63, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 67 69 67, T Fleetwood (Eng) 71 70 67 63,
273 L Oosthuizen (RSA) 69 68 70 66,
274 S Norris (RSA) 64 77 68 65, R Fisher (Eng) 70 71 66 67,
275 M Kaymer (Ger) 68 73 69 65, B Wiesberger (Aut) 69 69 65 72, S Garcia (Esp) 67 69 69 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 71 72 67 65,
276 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 67 68 71 70, P Waring (Eng) 71 71 67 67, J Singh Brar (Eng) 70 70 68 68, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 73 68 69 66, S Horsfield (Eng) 73 69 67 67,
277 F Laporta (Ita) 71 63 69 74, M Kawamura (Jpn) 69 71 70 67, B Grace (RSA) 68 72 69 68, S Hend (Aus) 69 70 69 69,
278 J Lagergren (Swe) 75 65 68 70, G Green (Mas) 73 70 67 68, A Sullivan (Eng) 69 71 68 70, E Molinari (Ita) 68 73 68 69, Z Murray (Aus) 67 72 70 69, J Smith (Eng) 74 68 67 69, R Paratore (Ita) 64 72 76 66, S Heisele (Ger) 70 73 64 71, B Stone (RSA) 71 72 66 69,
279 T Pieters (Bel) 68 70 70 71, J Senior (Eng) 71 70 66 72, D Lipsky (USA) 73 69 68 69, Y Lin (am) (Chn) 69 70 70 70,
280 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 73 67 72, R Langasque (Fra) 70 71 67 72, P Cantlay (USA) 71 66 72 71, B Koepka (USA) 66 75 70 69, K Kitayama (USA) 67 70 68 75, Z Lombard (RSA) 67 71 69 73, J Campillo (Esp) 71 72 67 70,
281 H Li (Chn) 67 69 74 71,
282 M Schwab (Aut) 74 66 69 73, S Soderberg (Swe) 75 64 73 70, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 69 69 73, A Chesters (Eng) 72 69 68 73, O Fisher (Eng) 71 70 72 69, J Luiten (Ned) 70 68 73 71, S Crocker (USA) 72 70 68 72, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 72 71 70, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 73 65 74,
283 A Arnaus (Esp) 70 67 75 71, J Harding (RSA) 69 73 72 69, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 71 70 71, S Kjeldsen (Den) 70 70 70 73,
284 J Walters (RSA) 73 70 69 72, M Pavon (Fra) 71 70 72 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 70 71 72 71, T Detry (Bel) 69 70 67 78,
285 C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 71 72 72 70, S Sharma (Ind) 71 70 69 75, J Scrivener (Aus) 66 74 74 71, H Porteous (RSA) 69 71 72 73, J Winther (Den) 73 70 71 71,
286 M Wallace (Eng) 73 70 69 74,
287 T Bjørn (Den) 71 71 73 72,
288 G Forrest (Sco) 74 68 73 73,
289 N Elvira (Esp) 72 67 78 72, L Herbert (Aus) 69 69 76 75,
290 V Dubuisson (Fra) 70 73 75 72, A Björk (Swe) 73 70 79 68, D Law (Sco) 70 68 76 76, A Johnston (Eng) 69 74 72 75,
291 D Howell (Eng) 70 72 75 74,