WESTWOOD WINS £800,000 PRIZE BY EIGHT AT SUN CITY

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By Kevin Garside
Lee Westwood is around £800,000 richer following his eight-shot victory in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa today. That’s the kids’ Christmas stockings taken care of. Westwood left the 12-man field trailing at the Gary Player County Club in Sun City, the manicured terrain so favoured by England’s footballers during the doomed World Cup campaign, though without the low scoring manifest on the football field.
Westwood, pictured, survived the heat and the sleep deprivation initiated by the dawn rituals of the baboons that festoon the Sun City environs.
Someone in the faux Las Vegas complex believes the local fauna to be central to the experience. Westwood might beg to differ, despite winning by a hefty margin from Tim Clark.
At least he can catch up on lost sleep back home in Worksop before opening his shoulders next month in Abu Dhabi, where the European season begins its month-long desert swing.
Westwood’s closing 68, which included a chipped birdie at the last for a 17-under aggregate 271, sealed his second victory of an injury-hit year, adding to the St Jude Classic claimed at Memphis in June.
“It’s a title I’ve always wanted to win,” Westwood said. “I’ve come close a few times, lost in the play-offs, but it’s always very special. It’s sometimes even more pressure having a big lead because it’s yours to blow.
“But I got off to a fast start and I got a few in front, so I felt pretty comfortable. It was a nice back nine, still tricky with the strong wind and the way it was swirling around. The finish was tough, so I was just pleased to get it done at the end.”

FROM THE SUNSHINE TOUR WEBSITE, SOUTH AFRICA
Lee Westwood finished the Nedbank Golf Challenge the way a World No 1 should as he chipped in from 35 metres on the 18th to complete a dominating eight-shot victory in the $5-million tournament at Sun City, South Africa.
Both he and his nearest pursuer, Tim Clark, overshot the green on the final hole of the 7,162-metre Gary Player Country Club, and Westwood calmly stepped up and sank his chip.
“To chip in on the last when you’ve got a seven-shot lead,” said Westwood, “that’s the stuff that dreams are made of, I guess.”
His four-under-par 68 was the best round of the day – a score shared by Retief Goosen, who climbed from ninth to a share of third with his final round.
Clark carded a one-under 71, and that was the third of only four sub-par rounds on the final day, with Spaniard Miguel Angel Jiménez sinking a 15-footer for birdie with a matador flourish on the 18th to share third with Goosen.
The 17th caused a wobble for Westwood, but nothing that was enough to stop his solitary march to victory.
He hit his approach long and against the stand, and his chap after he was given relief rolled 10 feet past the hole. His putt was just weak and he ended up making bogey for the second time in two rounds – but his nearest opposition was coming from Clark, who hit his approach into the water and would also end up making bogey.
“I was a bit disappointed by the bogey,” he said. “I really didn’t want to make a bogey today. The seven-iron into the green I thought was perfect and the wind just dropped on me. It was always going to be a tough up-and-down from there.”
But perhaps the reality for Westwood was that his nearest actual opposition was playing thousands of kilometres away in the Chevron Challenge in California – and even victory there is not enough for Tiger Woods to regain the number one ranking.
“It’s still something I’m trying to come to terms with,” said Westwood. “There’s expectation whenever you turn up at tournaments and you have to fulfil that. But since I’ve become number one, I’ve finished second, third and first. So I think I can cope with it.”
Clark’s short game was sublime throughout the final round. “I was looking for bunkers because I was doing so well out of them,” he laughed.
And his chip on 17 after he misread the yardage booklet and hit his four-iron 20 yards short was so nearly in for what would have been a miraculous par. “Just playing to my strength,” he said.
Behind the leaders, the challenge by Ross Fisher faded with a stomach bug which weakened him for much of the final two rounds, and he slid to a final 75 and a share of fifth with Ernie Els.
Westwood’s caddie Billy Foster also had the stomach bug, as did Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, whose performance of the final three rounds was substantially compromised and he brought up the rear of the 12-man field with his two-over-par 290 after his final 74.

FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72) Prizemoney in South African Rand
271 Lee Westwood (England) 68 64 71 68 (122,200).
279 Tim Clark (S Africa) 73 67 68 71 (88,650).
280 Retief Goosen (S Africa) 72 70 70 68, Miguel Angel Jiménez (Spain) 69 69 71 71 (55,100 each).
283 Ernie Els (S Africa) 71 68 71 73, Ross Fisher (England) 67 68 73 75 (37,775 each). 
285 Robert Allenby (Australia) 70 70 73 72, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 66 72 72 75 (22,750 each).
286 Justin Rose (England) 70 72 72 72, Anders Hansen (Denmark) 72 70 68 76 (18,125 each).
287 Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 71 67 73 76 (16,200)
290 Louis Oosthuizen (S Africa) 71 73 72 74 (15,450).