Westwood climbs to No 2 in the world after victory in Thailand

The Worksop player, 38, who won the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa earlier this month, carded a final-round 69 for an overall total of 266, 22 under par.

Victory meant Westwood took the world No 2 spot off Rory McIlroy with his seven-shot victory at the Thailand Championship.

Ian Poulter, meanwhile, is back in the top 20 and will end the year 16th thanks to his three-stroke win at the JBWere Masters in Australia.

England now have five of the world’s top 20, led, of course, by No 1 Luke Donald.

Westwood finished seven shots clear of Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, with American Michael Thompson third and Yorkshireman Simon Dyson, finishing in a tie for fourth at 12 under. Dyson’s finish means he has now climbed up to world No 28.

Birdies at the second and third enabled Westwood to be one under through the front nine yesterday, and he matched Schwartzel’s birdie at 12 and when he picked up another at the next, he looked home and hosed.

Westwood said: “It was nice to hole on top of Charl on 12 and then make the one on 13; it took the pressure off a little bit.

“I wasn’t happy until I was on that boat coming back from the island on 17 with a big lead.”

Schwartzel had bogeyed the penultimate hole and slipped further behind with a five at the last.

For Westwood, the focus now is on 2012 and finally ending his quest to win a major, and he has rejoined the US Tour to that end.

He said: “I’m going to continue to work on my fitness and all aspects of my game. I’m going in the right direction, I can see a lot of improvement and I’m happy with the way I’ve finished the year, I’ve won two out of my last three events.

“I’ll go into the winter with a lot of confidence and I’ll try to come out next year playing the same kind of golf as I played this week, a little bit leaner and well rested.”

Westwood began the day only four clear of South African Schwartzel, having led by 11 at halfway after following up a stunning 12-under-par first-round 60 with a 64.

Malton’s Dyson shot six birdies against three bogeys for a 69, sharing fourth place with Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol, who shot a 67 which was the equal best round of the day with Germany’s Alex Cejka, who was eighth.

In Australia, Poulter secured a three-shot victory at the JBWere Masters in Melbourne.

After winning the Volvo World Match Play Championship in Spain in May, he finished on 15 under par for the tournament, with Australian Marcus Fraser on 12 under.

Another Australian Geoff Ogilvy was a shot further back.

“For me it was a pure ball-striking round of golf,” Poulter said.

“(My concentration) was flawless the whole day. I was happy how I approached every shot,” he said.