Race to Dubai Blog - Day 5
by Greg Allen
Pádraig Harrington speaks eloquently about many aspects of the mental side to the game of golf and there is one mantra that he preaches regularly about how difficult it is to win on demand.
When Lee Westwood came to Dubai this week needing to win to finish the season as Europe's number one there was only one result which was certain to secure the deal and that was to win. And he did so, on demand.
It was extremely impressive and he made no argument when it was suggested to him on Sunday evening that he played the best golf of his life on the final day. He actually hinted that he possibly played the best golf of his life over the entire weekend shooting 66 and 64 for an extraordinary 23 under par total to win by six shots on a monstrously long 7.600 yard course. To use a much abused word, it was truly 'awesome'.
In scoring terms, possibly 'Tiger awesome'.
Okay, there was no dramatic putt holed on the final green for victory and Westwood doesn't do uppercut fistpumps even if he did wear red on the final day.
No, Westwood is his own man and he has a prolific if somewhat incomplete record. He has 31 worldwide wins but no majors to his name. But then Tiger never endured a slump in form which saw him drop out of the World's top 5 let alone the world's top 200 as Westwood once did.
And that's what made this story of golfing redemption so compelling.
Westwood's 2000 success - five wins
When Westwood won his only other Order of Merit in 2000, he did so in a period of his career when success seemed to come easily to him as he recorded five tournament wins that year including victory at the K Club in the European Open and the World Matchplay at Wentworth.
Following the birth of his son Samuel in early 2001, he took a few months off and didn't appear on Tour until late Spring. He failed to win for the first time in six years.
When he dropped out of the world's top 200 in 2002, he failed to record a top ten performance in 21 events played on the European Tour. It was a deep slump which, fortunately, the Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance took little notice of and picked him as a wildcard. Westwood won three points out of five at the Belfry and the experience would prove a turning point of sorts.
The following year, Westwood won twice including the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title but he then went three years without another win in Europe.
Although still in his early thirties, after another barren year in 2006, he was beginning to look like a spent force and he again required a captain's wildcard pick to make his fifth Ryder Cup appearance.
Not for the first time he excelled in matchplay against the Americans emerging unbeaten from the K Club. Again, his Ryder Cup experience acted like a springboard and he won twice the following year.
Ryder Cup selection - steady upward curve
From then until his €1.8 million payday here in Dubai as winner of the Order or Merit and the Dubai World Championship, the graph of his performance has been one of a steady upward curve.
The work he has done to hone his physique with specialised golf-orientated gym work has been probably the most significant element in his comeback to the top of the European tree and he admitted as much after his Dubai victory.
But there is also one man who has played a huge role in Westwood's career over the last six months or so. Ever since he teamed up with caddy Billy Foster, a strong charactered Yorkshireman who worked for years with Darren Clarke and most recently with Sergio Garcia, Westwood has stuck his chest out and begun to believe that he is a great player again.
It was Foster who told his boss after a poor performance in Hong Kong a week ago to stop watching others and make others watch him. To say the least, Westwood must be a good listener.
After two years without a victory, he has now won twice in a month and undoubtedly, the world of golf is watching him.
