Westwood wins in Abu Dhabi

Lee Westwood produced a brilliant final round 67 at the 2020 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to win his 25th European Tour title.

Lee, who will host the British Masters at Close House for a second time in July, posted a four-round total of 19 under-par to finish two shots ahead of countrymen Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood, and Frenchman Victor Perez.

Now a winner in four different decades, Lee said: “I’m ecstatic, elated and a bit emotional. It’s 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 won my first tournament in 1996 in Sweden. I won that tournament, the Scandinavian Masters, in three different decades, and now I’ve won here. The 20s could be the ones for me.”

Tommy – a two-time winner at the 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 Victor matched him for the lowest round of his European Tour career. Five-time European Tour winner Matthew 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.