Lee Westwood finally ended more than two years without a win today — and with it went top of the European Tour money list and fifth in the world. The Portugal Masters in Vilamoura came down in the end to a duel between Westwood and Francesco Molinari.
The Italian, level with three to play, missed a three-foot par putt on the 16th and Westwood birdied the long 17th by almost pitching in from over the green.
Molinari then missed a five-foot birdie chance and parred the last to finish two behind on 21 under par. He was round in 70 to Westwood’s 66, while overnight leader Retief Goosen fell away to sixth with a 75.
Third was Padraig Harrington on 19 under following a closing 67.
Westwood's €500,000 first prize took him comfortably past the previous money-list (Race to Dubai) leader Rory McIlroy, who finished well down the field.
Trailing double US Open winner Retief Goosen by three strokes overnight, Westwood took a firm hold of the tournament with birdies at the first four holes.
Molinari, though, recovering from a double-bogey on the seventh, caught Westwood by the 12th, only to let his rival get away by missing a putt of under three feet on the 16th to bogey.
Westwood survived a visit to the Victoria club gardens after a wayward approach to the long 17th green and his birdie there with a stunning shot from over trees closed out Molinari.
Collated final round scores & totals
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72)
265Lee Westwood 66 67 66 66
267Francesco Molinari (Ita) 63 66 68 70
269 Padraig Harrington69 62 71 67
270Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 65 66 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 67 69 67 67
271Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 64 64 75, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 65 65 71 70, Justin Rose 65 70 70 66, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70 69 62, Danny Willett 69 68 66 68, Johan Edfors (Swe) 69 66 68 68
272Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 68 67 67 70, Anthony Wall 68 67 70 67, Scott Drummond 68 69 68 67, Oliver Fisher 67 67 68 70
273Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 69 69 71 64, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 69 69 68 67, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 68 65 71 69
274Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 69 67 70 68, Robert Rock 70 68 72 64, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 69 70 64, Oliver Wilson 67 70 64 73, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 70 66 69, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 67 67 67, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 67 71 66
275 Gareth Maybin69 67 65 74, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 68 66 70, Paul McGinley70 69 68 68, Bradley Dredge 66 70 69 70
276Steve Webster 71 67 71 67, Rory McIlroy69 70 71 66, James Kingston (Rsa) 71 64 67 74, Stephen Dodd 71 64 70 71, Shane Lowry70 65 71 70, Colin Montgomerie 68 71 69 68, Simon Khan 66 68 71 71
277Ben Curtis (USA) 68 68 72 69, Pablo Martin (Spa) 66 66 68 77, Peter Lawrie68 68 65 76, Paul Broadhurst 70 68 71 68
278Paul Waring 69 71 66 72, Taco Remkes (Ned) 71 68 70 69, David Lynn 71 67 66 74, Darren Clarke69 68 70 71
279Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 68 70 72 69, Damien McGrane 69 67 70 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 70 71 69, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 69 74 65, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 67 70 72 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 69 71 69 70, Miles Tunnicliff 68 68 70 73, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 67 68 73
280Marc Warren 68 67 73 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 70 66 74, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 72 68 71 69, Phillip Price 68 72 71 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 68 67 75
281Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 66 73 68 74
282Alastair Forsyth 65 68 77 72, Ross McGowan 69 71 71 71
283Gary Lockerbie 73 67 74 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 69 74 69, Simon Dyson 70 67 75 71
284Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 70 70 74 70, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 67 72 73, Tano Goya (Arg) 70 66 72 76
285Anders Hansen (Den) 69 71 69 76
286John Bickerton 69 69 76 72
289Shaun Micheel (USA) 70 70 73 76
