Lee Westwood has won the 2000 Volvo European Order of Merit after finishing second in an exciting finish to the American Express World Championship in Valderrama this afternoon. It all seemed to go horribly wrong for Westwood on the 17th when he ended up in the trees. The Englishman needed to finish inside the top six to win the Order of Merit after Ireland's Darren Clarke finished today at level par, leaving him in 17th place. However, Westwood was given a free drop when he discovered his ball had fallen into a drainage ditch and took a bogey six. Thanks to a double-bogey by Tiger Woods and a triple bogey from Nick Price on the same hole after both found the water, Westwood's mistake went unpunished, their disasters in fact pushing him up to second spot on the leaderboard.
Thirty-year-old Canadian Mike Weir was the surprise winner of the prestigious tournament after he finished at 11 under, two shots ahead of Westwood, with a round of 69. While all around him were enduring a nightmare on the 17th, he made five and then bogyed the last as the realisation of what he was about to achieve took hold. Weir took home a cool $1 million with $500,000 going to runner-up Westwood. Duffy Waldorf and Vijay Singh finished joint third. Padraig Harrington did brilliantly today with a final round of 70, finishing in joint 5th position at 7 under along with world number one Tiger Woods, Nick Price and Sergio Garcia, who had the round of the day with a fine 64. Paul McGinley finished at two over, tied for 35th place alongside Bernhard Langer.
Afterwards, Westwood was overcome by his accomplishment. "I'm very drained emotionally. In fact, that's the most emotional I've ever been. I've played in a winning Ryder Cup team here and I've won tournaments, but nothing was quite like today. I could have taken 10 or 11 on the 17th after carving my drive almost into somebody's back garden. But somebody was looking down on me." Darren Clarke was magnanimous in defeat and had nothing but praise for his old friend. "In fairness you'd have to say that Lee's been a lot more consistent. He played better than I did on a more regular basis. I think it's a fair result," said the Ulsterman.
"I'm disappointed because I came in here leading and wasn't able to play well enough. I just didn't produce the sort of golf that I needed to. Nothing was happening for me and I was trying to force it a couple of times. When I pushed a little bit harder that's when I made mistakes. Over the year I haven't been able to convert my chances into wins enough. Ultimately, that's what Lee does and that's why I think he's deserved to finish number one. He takes his chances more often than not," he added.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
