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.

Among those left in his wake was Rory McIlroy, the 20-year-old Ulsterman. McIlroy’s quest to become the youngest winner of the European Tour’s money title since Seve Ballesteros came up just short, after a final round 67 for 273, 15-under-par, left him third in the event and runner-up to Westwood in the final standings.

McIlroy’s compensation, however, was not to be sniffed at: just two years into his professional career, he finished the season with only one man – Westwood – ahead of him in the standings, and yesterday’s earnings of €1,071,570 (comprising €323,963 for his third place prize money and a further €747,607 from the bonus pool) brought his season’s winnings in Europe to €3,610,020 and lifted him to 10th in the latest World rankings.

“It’s an unbelievable amount of money, yeah, (but) that’s not why I was playing today. I was trying to win the Dubai World Championship and I wasn’t quite able to do it. But, you know, I suppose it’s a nice sort of consolation going into Christmas,” said McIlroy.

If the chasing pack went into yesterday’s final round with the scent of Westwood in their nostrils, from early on it was obvious only one man was destined to win. Westwood birdied five of the first seven holes and his control of his own destiny was summed up by a 35-footer for birdie on the third which went over humps and hollows to find the hole.

In contrast, there were no early round fireworks from McIlroy. He’d put on his mobile phone in the morning to find a text message from Graeme McDowell which read, “you’re a top Sunday performer . . . just go out there and do it.” McIlroy, though, struggled to get off to the sort of quick-fire start that he hoped would apply pressure on Westwood.

So frustrated was McIlroy with a start that saw eight straight pars that he hit out at an advertising hoarding on the seventh hole after pulling his approach with a three-wood left of the green. “Frustration? Yes, but it was better than JP (Fitzgerald, his caddie) feeling the wrath . . . it was so frustrating because I knew I was playing well enough to give myself birdies and I wasn’t able to do it.”

By the time McIlroy grabbed his first birdie of the round, on the ninth, he had slipped to 10 shots behind Westwood. But that birdie ignited his round and he garnered a further four birdies in the next five holes as he moved up the leaderboard, finally finishing alone in third place.

“I was trying to become the youngest player since Seve to win the title, it would have been great to do it. I really wanted this after the US PGA (in August), because that’s really all I had left of the season was to try and wrap up the money list. I haven’t been able to do it and I’m disappointed but when I look back on the season it’s been a great learning curve,” said McIlroy.

Yesterday, as Westwood found himself in a world on his own on The Earth course created by designer Greg Norman in the barren desert, there was no doubt his sublime golf had the effect of intimidating all of his pursuers.

(Last year’s position in parentheses)

1 (3) Lee Westwood (Eng) €4,237,762

2 (36) Rory McIlroy (N Ire) €3,610,020

3 (8) Martin Kaymer (Ger) €2,864,342

4 (6) Ross Fisher (Eng) €2,531,183

5 (21) Paul Casey (Eng) €2,362,947

Golf: page 12