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GOLF/RACE TO DUBAI: THE CHOSEN ones were asked to take on The Earth to find Europe’s best golfer of the season, but Lee Westwood – seemingly in a Zen-like trance – played as if he came from another planet. In as authoritative performance as there has ever been on tour, the Englishman yesterday turned what was supposed to be a race into a procession in the season’s finale, the Dubai World Championship.

Westwood, who last claimed the money title in 2000, was a runaway winner after shooting a final round bogey-free 64 for 265, 23-under-par, that left him six strokes clear of closest pursuer Ross McGowan. It moved him back up to fourth in the world rankings, far removed from the time in 2002 when he slumped to a career-low 254th in the world and seriously considered quitting the sport. Did it feel better than his first Order of Merit win achieved nine years previously? “It’s better . . . to drop completely into obscurity and come back from it means a lot,” said Westwood, who hit the financial jackpot with a payday that amounted to €1.8 million.