LEE Westwood produced one of the greatest finishes to a round in European Tour history at the Irish Open yesterday and now has his sights firmly set on a 30th professional victory.
On a course described by Ryder Cup team-mate Paul McGinley as "a monster" on Thursday, Westwood followed birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th with a closing eagle three.
Six under for the last five holes gave the former European number one a 6
4, one outside Padraig Harrington's record on the Adare Manor course, and shot him into the lead. Westwood, 39th at the start of the day and only 80th after his opening 75, stood seven under and was one ahead of fellow Englishman Richard Finch and South African David Frost.
Trying to become the oldest winner ever on the tour, 48-year-old Frost was in with a 66, but Finch still had four to play.
As for overnight leader Michael Lorenzo-Vera, he was only on the sixth, but had already registered three bogeys and was back to three under.
In terms of scoring, the only finish that can better Westwood's on the circuit came from Australian Peter O'Malley on the final day of the 1992 Scottish Open at Gleneagles. O'Malley went eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle to pip Colin Montgomerie to the title.
Westwood is only playing because he fell ill three weeks ago and pulled out of a championship in America. "I just went out to enjoy it today – and that was very enjoyable."
• Michele Thomson from Ellon, Aberdeenshire endorsed her Curtis Cup team selection by winning the Scottish women's amateur golf championship for the first time at Lossiemouth on the Moray Firth yesterday.
The 20-year-old beat another first-time finalist, Jocelyn Carthew, by 2 and 1.
The full article contains 313 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
