Westwood wins his first event in at least, ooohhhhh, 4 weeks. He does in the Loch Lomond World Invitational, fast becoming one of the most prodigious events on the Euro tour.....
Nick Pitt of The Times from Loch Lomond.
THE principle that lightning doesn't strike twice suggests that by winning the Standard Life Loch Lomond World Invitational yesterday, Lee Westwood scuppered his chances of a first major victory at the Open next week.
Such a perversely negative argument would appear to be reinforced the the fundamental differance between the beautiful lochside course yesterday and the windswept, open links of Royal Birkdale. But Westwood, who shot a final round 70 to finish at eight under par, four strokes ahead of a group of five players, is so clearly and consistently the golfing man of the moment that it would be unwise to count him out wherever or whenever he tees it up.
Certainly, Westwood fancies his chances this week. "I have a differant feeling from earlier in the year when I won in New Orleans, the week before the Masters," he said. "Birkdale will suit me far better Augusta."
Westwood's fourth victory of the year (and his third in four tournaments) propelled him to the top of the European Rankings and took his season's earnings to more than 500,000. He has proved he can on any type of course, and that he can win two weeks in a row as he did in Germany and England earlier this year.
Those who finishes second included Ian Woosnam, whose 66 was the round of the day, and Dennis Edlund, the unsung Swede who shared the over-night lead with Westwood. Edlund made a good contest of it until disater struck when the end wasin sight. After falling three shots behind at the seventh hole, the Swede, for whom winning big tournaments is as foreign as it is becoming familiar to Westwood, fought back to be level by the 13th.
But on the 14th, a par-four reachable with the driver (as proved by Westood by reaching it), he played safe but hit an awful approach from 100 yards. That was a dropped shot - it would have been two if Westwood had not three-putted. At the next hole, he conceded another four shots, racking up a seven while Westwood birdied.
The measure of a player is the opinion of his peers, and top contenders such as Tom Lehman and Colin Montgomerie admitted before the final round began that their chances of catching Westwood were remote. A good front runner, his form is so solid, his serious errors so few, that his stroll to victory had an air of the inevitable.
Monty, who finished at three under par after a 70, never seriously threatended the lead bu this ball striking was good enough for him to head south in head. Lehman struggled manfully, recording a 72 despite missing far more fairways than he would like. LAst year, he won the Loch Lomond and faded at Troon. If he reverses the process, he will hardly complain.
Among other celebrated names who head for Birkdale today, Woosnam was in pecially good humour. "It could have been vey special," he said. "In fact it's disappointing to shoot 66 when it could have been 62 to put me in the runnning." As ever, Woosnam's problems were of the putting kind.
The weather yesterday matched the scenery for drama, with heavy showers alternating with sharp sunshine, producing wonderful light. The showers, drenching in the morning, were swept down the loch by a good breeze, which made club selection tricky. But although the tee shot on the par four 10th was affected by the crosswind, it was nowhere near sufficient to explain the succession of calamities that occured there shortly before lunch.
It began with Jesper Parnevik, one of the Swedes with a game good enough to enjoy the coming week. He carved his tee shot right, deep into woods and shot a double-bogey six. Next in was Ignacio Garrido, in the following match. He was in with the bears, behing fir and oak and rhododendron. He tee shot, with a driver, had travelled 150 yards forward and 50 yards sideways, the nearest thing to a shank you could manage with such a club.
Those adventures were merely the preliminaries. Next up on the tee was Miguel Angel Jimenez, deputy captain of Europe's Ryder Cup team. "Fore! Right!" and the knot of spectators, who were beginning to feel loke targets, ducked again. His ball clattered into timberand fell into thick undergrowth. "Call for a rules official," said a steward.
The rules official, Ian Randell, informed Jimenez that he could not tell in advance whether he would get relief. Jimenez dropped his ball into the elephant grass, and asked for relief. The rules official was forced to call for a second opinion when Jimenez asked for relief.
Jimenez had to drop again, for another penalty, before playing his fourth shot (only his second with a club) sideways on to the fairway and, in the end, a very good seven.
The owners of Loch Lomond hope to develop the tournament as a kind of Scottish Masters and plan to make a bid to host the Ryder Cup. The first idea is unrealistic. The second requires a huge improvement in infrastructure. The car-parks were inadequate for the 20,000 attending yesterday, as were the access roads.
But where the course does score is in the way it look and plays. Lehman described it as, "The greatest place on earth - almost!" and indeed when you walk down the par-3 fifth and turn left down the sixth and seventh that follow the loch, you could cry for the beauty of it.
