Westwood claims 42nd title at Thailand Golf Championship

Lee Westwood fired a superb final round 67 to win the Thailand Golf Championship by one shot and claim his 42nd career title.

The 41-year-old Englishman reclaimed the crown he won in 2011 to make it a 14th win on Asian soil.

Westwood made seven birdies in 10 holes before a par at the last gave him a finishing score of -8 on the Amata Springs course.

Australia’s Marcus fraser had the lead going into the final round but narrowly missed his par putt on 18 to force a play-off with Westwood.

Germany’s Martin Kaymer made a costly bogey on 17 to finish alongside Fraser on -7.
It is by far the hardest golf course I’ve played on in Asia. The greens were firm and the rough was really thick" – Lee Westwood “This is my last event of the year and it’s nice to finish with a win and go into Christmas and start the New Year with confidence and a bit of momentum,” Westwood said.

“I didn’t get off to the best of starts and gave myself an awful lot to do. I knew I had to refocus and gave myself a talking to. I found my swing at the sixth and after that I really got going with four straight birdies.

“It is by far the hardest golf course I’ve played on in Asia. The greens were firm and the rough was really thick.”

Fraser, Scott Hend, Jonathan Moore and Anirban Lahiri all qualified for the 144th Open at St Andrews for the top three finishers not already exempt.

American Moore, who was playing on a sponsor’s invitation, had a dream week at Amata Spring and will make his first appearance at The Open next year. 

The 29-year-old former Walker Cup player finished joint sixth on three-under-par alongside Lahiri and exempt player Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand. 

Moore rolled in a 20 foot putt on the 18th to secure his place in The Open before embracing his wife Claire, who caddied for him in Thailand and is expecting the couple’s first child.

Lahiri, from Bangalore, India, closed with a 73 on Sunday to clinch the final place in The Open. The five-time Asian Tour winner earned his most recent victory at the Venetian Macau Open in October and will make a third start at The Open in 2015.

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