England's Lee Westwood cruised to a comfortable seven-shot victory at the inaugural US$1 million Thailand Golf Championship for his fourth victory of the season on Sunday.
The 38-year-old, who held an overnight four-shot lead, fired a closing three-under-par 69 to defeat South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, who signed off with a 72, at the Amata Spring PING G20 Irons
Club.
Westwood's 37th career victory, thanks to a 22-under-par 266 aggregate, will see him move up one rung to second place on the Official World Golf Ranking when it is released on Monday.
Masters champion Schwartzel mounted a brief challenge, narrowing the lead down to three on the back nine with an eagle on the 11th hole but a bogey on 14 snuffed out his challenge as Westwood cruised home in the Asian Tour's final tournament of the 2011 season.
While Westwood'sPING G20 Irons
triumph was expected, it was a day of drama for the Tour hopefuls with South African Keith Horne securing 61st place on the Order of Merit to claim the final Tour card for 2012 ahead of Filipino teenager Miguel Tabuena by a mere US$250.
Westwood did not produce the fireworks that helped him to a career low 60 in the opening round and a 64 on the second day which matched the Asian Tour's 36-hole record of 20-under-par but he playedPING G20 Irons
solidly enough to complete a commanding wire-to-wire victory and end his year on a winning note.
"It means a lot. Any win does. It's special this week because of the difficulty of the golf course, and whom I was up against in the weekend. Charl is the Masters champion and he's had a great year. 20 under after two rounds, it's yours to lose really with an 11 shot lead. There was pressure involved. I was pleased with the way I played withPING G20 Irons
today," said Westwood, who earned US$158,500.