After flirting with a 59 in the opening round of the Thailand Golf Championship, Lee Westwood went on to dominate the field in the inaugural event, posting a final score of 22-under par to claim his fourth victory of 2011.With his opening round of 60, followed by a 64 in round two, there seemed to be little hope of anyone catching or challenging the world's No. 3 ranked player this week.
The Englishman did slip in his third round, posting a one-over, 73. Though he was so far ahead of the field, he most likely could have posted a score in the 80's and still coasted to victory.
His closest competitor was Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, who finished the event at 15-under par, one ahead of Michael Thompson. Of course, still seven off the pace of Westwood.
“It means a lot, any win does,” said Westwood after his victory. “It’s special this week because of the difficulty of the golf course and who I was up against in the weekend.
“Charl is the Masters champion and he has had a great year. The fact that I led wire to wire, 60 in the first round and 64 in the second round, 20 under after two rounds, it’s yours to lose really with an 11-shot lead. There was pressure involved.”
Schwartzel however was able to close the gap to two strokes after eagling the par-five 11th followed by a birdie on the 12th.
The South African would get no closer than that, as Westwood also carded a birdie on the 12th, 13th and 15th to again pull away from Schwartzel and the rest of the field.
“It was a tough day. The wind probably blew the hardest today compared to the last three rounds,” Sshwartzel said after his final round.
“I played great. If it wasn’t for Lee, I would have probably won the tournament.”
It wasn't meant to be for anyone other than Westwood this week in Thailand. It's tough to catch someone that in two rounds took only 124 strokes, starting the event off flirting with golf's ultimate round -- 59.
A great way for Westwood to finish off his 2011 season, with a victory.
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