Westwood closes in on rankings lead

Colin Montgomerie remained European number one last night but a young pretender is lurking. Lee Westwood's thrilling sudden-death victory over Swede Fredrik Jacobson took the 25-year-old Englishman to within £45,266 of rankings leader Montgomerie.

The stage is set for a dramatic finale to the European season at the end of the month.

If Westwood's plans come to fruition then Europe will have a new number one player for the first time in six years.

To realise his prediction of making Montgomerie pay for missing the Belgacom Open, Westwood even had the courage to lift the £66,660 first prize and nudge up to Monty, the hard way.

He thought he had clinched victory by pitching in on the 10th for an eagle-two and carding a 66. But Jacobson, merely seeking to keep his European Tour card with a good finish when he came to Knokke Le Zoute, had other ideas.

The young Swede stayed on Westwood's shirt-tails and when he sank a brave 20-footer on the long 17th, the two were tied and stayed that way, on 16-under-par, two better than Robert Karlsson and Greg Turner.

Summoning up the sort of spirit and determination that carried him top of the rankings before Monty stepped in last week, Westwood gritted his teeth and turned on a little putting magic. On the first sudden-death hole his ball finished 25 feet short. With a deadly eye, which had earned him three European successes this year and one in America, Westwood marched up and rammed in the putt for birdie, for a thrilling victory.

"If somebody had offered me five wins at the start of the year I'd have taken their hand off," said a delighted Westwood.

"I came here with the intention of winning so that I can go to the Volvo Masters knowing that if I defend my title there then whatever Monty does can't have any effect on me.

"My game is the best it's been, tee-to-green, of my career so I was confident I could win today. Fredrik made it hard for me and it was a great performance from him when he came here knowing he needed a result just to keep his card.

"It doesn't pay to be overconfident but my target was 66 and I made it. Obviously the 10th was a key hole but I think that was justice because a lot of good putts didn't go in."

That fact had certainly been true for Padraig Harrington earlier in the week when he required 36 putts on Thursday to leave him in serious danger of missing the cut.

But his putting performances just got better and better and yesterday, when finishing 21st on eight-under-par with a 67 to earn £4,320 pounds, they reached their zenith. He took just 25 putts to put himself in great heart for this week's Dunhill Cup foray.

Harrington is in good spirits altogether for the St Andrews clash and heartened by Darren Clarke's decision to stay away from Belgium to warm up instead for the Dunhill, so taking himself out of the European rankings race, with Westwood and Montgomerie.

Said Harrington: "Darren's decision was good for the team because he's given 100 per cent commitment to being ready for the Dunhill Cup. We can win but it's as well to realise what the tournament can throw up. Somebody can be at the top of his game and beat his opponent by 10 shots but it's no good if the other two lose their matches. "We're meeting up on Tuesday for practice and hoping this time we can go a little further."

Philip Walton closed with a 71 for 42nd place to earn £2,480 on three-under-par but that was way short of his ambition. Walton needed to be top-10 to make the Volvo Masters showdown and missed out largely through letting a really low round on Saturday get away from him.

Des Smyth will not have to go to the all-time-money-list for playing rights next year. He keeps a card despite missing the cut, by finishing 113th on the order of merit, three places above the safety-line.