Sam Torrance: Tasty vintage Lee Westwood is playing as well as ever
Lee Westwood swung as well as I have seen him swing for a long, long time on his way to a magnificent victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in South Africa on Sunday.
The Englishman, 45, hadn’t won for four years but looked oustanding all week and some of the golf produced by him, Sergio Garcia and Louis Oosthuizen as they vied for the lead in the final round was sublime.
I felt for Garcia a little. He played beautifully too and was right there until the back nine, where Westwood conjured a fabulous five birdies to ultimately win by three shots.
The Spaniard had the chance to pull away from the pack on Saturday but a poor bogey at 18 saw Oosthuizen reduce Garcia’s overnight lead from four to two shots and upped the pressure on him slightly.
Garcia then bogeyed the first hole on Sunday, was caught by Westwood when he eagled the second, and never really got going. Westwood threw down the gauntlet and neither Garcia nor Oostuhuizen could pick it up.
We’ve seen Miguel Angel Jimenez win on the European Tour in his 50s, so we shouldn’t be hugely surprised that Westwood has done it in his mid-40s. When players are as good as that you never know when they’ll pull a title out of the bag.
Saying that, Westwood’s numbers this season are phenomenal. His stroke average is 69.77, the third lowest of any player on the tour and the best that he has recorded in 25 years as a professional. If he was a bottle of wine he’d be a very tasty vintage.
Lee himself has also said that he’s playing as well as ever. His technique is so controlled and rhythmical and his putting has always been superb. When you’re in the top five for greens in regulation and leading the field in putting, you’re always going to be close.
This was Westwood’s third win at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and his fourth at Gary Player Country Club.
It’s a very accurate, almost claustrophobic course with lots of trouble either side of every hole, which is why even very good players like Charl Schwartzel and Ross Fisher can make nine at some holes – as they did.
Now that he has ended his drought, Westwood will want to finish the European Tour season as well as possible at this week’s DP World Tour Championship. Beyond that, who knows?
Having stated last month that he didn’t want to be considered for the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2020 because he still hopes to play againt the United States, it’s fantastic that he has won so quickly.
Padraig Harrington adopted a similar position two years ago and promptly underlined his point by winning. He didn’t make the team this year after all and it’s too soon to say whether Westwood will represent Europe next time, but winning a first Rolex Series event is a very meaningful move in the right direction.
Swift response from stung Kuchar
Another seasoned player returning to the winner’s circle at the weekend was Matt Kuchar, who won a first PGA Tour title since 2014 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico.
Kuchar missed out on playing at the American season-ending Tour Championship for the first time in nine years a few weeks ago and that will have hurt, so this is a swift response.
He turned 40 in June but is fit and healthy so you would expect him to continue giving you a run for your money for the foreseeable future.
Westwood and Kuchar’s wins show it is obviously possible to keep winning in the autumn of your career. Whether they add more titles is up to them; it’s a lot to do with desire.
Dubai finale not what it once was
The curtain comes down on another European Tour season this week at the DP World Tour Championship, where Jon Rahm will defend his title, although it has lost some of its significance.
Only two men can win the Race To Dubai and, barring an extraordinary turn of events, it will be Francesco Molinari and not last year’s winner Tommy Fleetwood.
The event has traditionally been a huge one but, as the finale to the Race To Dubai, it has become part of something bigger and lost some of its prestige along the way.