Westwood climbs above Clarke

Lee Westwood's bank manager must be the second-happiest man in Worksop after seeing his favourite customer win the Scandinavian Masters at Kunsangen yesterday.

Finishing first on Sundays is becoming run of the mill for the stocky 27-year-old: this was his fourth title triumph in his past nine outings.

In that spell Westwood has also finished second, third, fourth and fifth (in the US Open), the only bleep being his tie for 64th in the British Open Championship at his least favourite venue, St Andrews.

When added to his European Tournament Players Championship, the European grand prix and the European Open, the £164,000 sterling Swedish top prize took his official winnings over the season to more than £1 million.

Even progressively worse rounds of 63, 67, 69 and 71 for a 14-under-par 270 never threatened to halt his gallop. With the wind strengthening every day, "it was much more difficult at the weekend", he said.

He was glad to settle for a three-stroke win from New Zealand's Michael Campbell, with Scotland's Raymond Russell a stroke further back.

Westwood, who led from start to finish for the first time, now tops the European money list with £1,177,212 and heads to Valhalla in Kentucky for the US PGA Championship.

Darren Clarke, who teed off in second place in the money list £81,000 ahead of Westwood, needed to finish second to prevent Westwood going to the top of the list, but a 71 - nine strokes worse than his winning score in Wednesday's pro-am - left him still 10 adrift.

"It's the second time I've gone into a major with a victory under my belt," Westwood said. "It does wonders for your confidence, but a major is a very different kettle of fish.

"The US PGA, however, is probably more like a regular American tour event than the Masters, US Open and certainly the Open. It always produces outstanding winners, like Tiger and Vijay Singh.

"My run of form is probably the best anyone has shown in Europe for a long time. [I've started] lightening up and enjoying myself after reaching my lowest ebb in mid-May.

"But the money-list battle is far from over. I could be a million pounds behind after the US PGA and the world championship event or a million ahead - these events are so heavily loaded. It will go right down to the wire in the last two weeks of the season."

It was Westwood's 22nd win worldwide and his 13th in Europe in five years, his first success having come, by coincidence, in the 1996 Swedish event.

Six strokes ahead at the start of the round, he was inquiring about the record-winning margin in a European tour event. It is 11 strokes - if you don't count Tiger Woods's 15-stroke victory in this year's US Open, whose prizemoney counts towards both circuits. And when he sank a 50-foot putt for a birdie three at the opening hole, a new record looked possible.

After battling migraines all week, the defending champion, Colin Montgomerie, fourth in the table, finished with a 70, nine strokes behind Westwood.