Lee Westwood, helped by a tree for one of his two birdies, shot a one-under-par 70 yesterday to win in Japan, for the second consecutive week, taking the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Miyazaki.
He finished at 13-under 271, three clear of Darren Clarke in second, who shot a final round 71 and collected £120,000. Westwood collected £200,000 from a purse of £1.2 million for his seventh victory of the season. He also won four tournaments in Europe and one in the United States.
Westwood went two shots clear with a birdie on the ninth, and by three on the 465-yard, par four 10th, where he pulled a four-iron shot into the trees, but the ball rebounded on to the green. He sank a 50-foot putt for birdie.
"That was really the turning point," said Westwood. "When the ball hits a tree and goes on to the green, you're lucky. As soon as something like that happens, you think it's going to be your day," he added.
(Japanese unless stated, Ire in bold) 271 - L Westwood (Brit) 68 67 66 70; 274 - D Clarke (NI) 70 67 66 71; 276 - N Ozaki 69 71 64 72; 277 - J Sluman (USA) 69 70 66 72, S Maruyama 70 69 71 67, M Ozaki 71 70 65 71; 279 - F Funk (USA) 69 69 66 75, T Ozaki 75 69 66 69; 280 - P Teravainen (USA) 69 71 71 69, Z Lianwei (Chn) 70 71 70 69, B Watts (USA) 71 67 70 72, P Senior (Aus) 70 69 67 74, H Tanaka 70 73 69 68
