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ORLANDO, FLORIDA | Lee Westwood never considered getting into golf’s version of an arm-wrestling competition with Bryson DeChambeau in their final-round pairing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
Just more than a month shy of his 48th birthday and the reigning European Tour’s Race to Dubai champion, Westwood stuck to what he does best – there have been few more consistent ball-strikers in the past three decades – only to come up one stroke shy in his attempt to win for the first time in 11 years on the PGA Tour.
Westwood made a gritty par on the 72nd hole at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, handling a tee shot that found a fairway divot then two-putting from 71 feet to push DeChambeau to the limit on a grinding, wind-whipped afternoon in Florida.
“You can’t want for more than that,” said Westwood, who started the final round with a one-stroke lead and shot 73. “I thought we had a really good battle. And there were tough conditions out there and it wasn’t going to be a day where – I don't think anybody was going to shoot 68 or 67 – it was a day for playing sensible and hanging on and grinding out the pars.”
At a time when many of his peers are counting the days until they’re eligible for seniors golf, Westwood keeps rolling along. He hasn’t lost his length through the years, has stayed active in the gym and there’s no reason to think he won’t be on the European Ryder Cup team again in September.
“My nerves are still intact, I still get into contention and enjoy it rather than kind of back off,” Westwood said.
He didn’t back down against DeChambeau, who at times seemed to be playing a different golf course given their relative strengths and strategies. Westwood playfully raised his arms over his head in celebration after hitting a big drive on the par-5 sixth hole, mimicking DeChambeau’s earlier reaction after taking a dramatically more aggressive line over the water.
“When I’m playing with him, I’m not going to go out there and go blow for blow with him,” Westwood said. “Some people can do that and will do that. But that’s the way for me to play myself out of a tournament.”
Not on Sunday.
Ron Green Jr.