Numbers behind Lee Westwood's Abu Dhabi triumph

Lee Westwood won his second Rolex Series title at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA by two strokes from Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez after a closing 67.

The win is the Englishman’s 25th on the European Tour in 554 appearances and he becomes the eighth multiple winner on the Rolex Series after Jon Rahm, Alex Noren, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Bernd Wiesberger, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood.

But what was so good about the 46-year-old’s game that saw him win title number 25?

The oldest winner of a Rolex Series event ranked first in fairways hit, finding the short stuff off the tee 70% of the time.

Throughout his career, Westwood’s driving has rarely faltered and this week was no exception. This, in turn, gave the ten-time Ryder Cup appearance maker for Team Europe more chance of finding the green with his approach play – and find greens is exactly what he did.

In fact, this week Westwood gained 4.5 strokes on the field with driver in his hand. A stat only bettered by three other golfers in the field this week.

Ranking eighth in the greens in regulation stats – having hit the dance floor 79% of the time - Westwood gave himself numerous birdie opportunities. In fact, the Englishman made 22 birdies or better across the four rounds to finish two ahead of his nearest competitors.

When you’re hitting so many greens, you’re unlikely to make many mistakes. That’s arguably why Westwood only made four bogeys across the 72 holes.

Finally, it was an impressive week with the putter as well for the 25-time European Tour winner as he gained 7.3 strokes on the field with the short stick.

With this win, Westwood also becomes the fourth Englishman to win the tournament after Paul Casey (2007, 2009), Robert Rock (2012) and Fleetwood (2017, 2018), as well as jumping to the top of the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex on 1,165 points.

Picking up victory in each of the last four decades, win number 25 also puts Westwood within five of Sir Nick Faldo (30) in terms of European Tour titles. It is also his 44th victory worldwide.