Ryder Cup: Westwood, Fitzpatrick and Willett shine at Crans-sur-Sierre
By Keith Jackson
Last Updated: 04/09/16 10:49pm
Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett gave European captain Darren Clarke plenty of encouragement as the English trio all enjoyed strong finishes to the Omega European Masters.
Westwood admitted to being "rusty" on the opening day at Crans-sur-Sierre having played a limited schedule this season, but the veteran closed with a flawless 63 that lifted him into outright fourth place on 12 under par.
Fitzpatrick, who will make his Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine later this month, also kept a bogey off his card in a 64, matching the earlier effort of fellow rookie and defending champion Willett.
The Masters winner responded to a bogey-bogey start to his final round with birdies at five of the next six holes, and he followed a birdie at 15 with a superb eagle at the long 15th before a closing three secured a share of 12th place on nine under par.
"I'm looking forward to another week off for practice and then to Italy," said Willett, confirming he would tee it up at the Golf Club Milano for the Italian Open, which starts on September 15.
Fitzpatrick scraped into the weekend with nothing to spare after he birdied four of the last five holes on Friday afternoon, and he dropped only one shot over the last 36 holes to secure his fourth top-10 finish of the season.
The reigning British Masters champion cruised to the turn in 32 and picked up three shots in four holes from the 12th before parring in to stay at 10 under for the week.
But both were outshone by Westwood, who followed birdies at the third and fourth with three in a row from the seventh to cap an outward 30, and further gains at 15 and 18 matched the low round of the final day.
Westwood, who finished five shots behind the leaders, said afterwards: "I struggled Thursday, I was a little bit rusty as I have not played a lot of golf.
"I didn't play any the week before and not much in the four weeks coming into here so it took me a while to find my form.
"It was a nice round of golf today with a couple of missed putts in there as well, and I didn't birdie 14 going in with eight iron, so it could have been a 60 really."
Chris Wood was the other member of Clarke's team in action over the weekend in the Swiss Alps, and the BMW PGA champion was four over for the day after three bogeys in four holes around the turn before he birdied 14, eagled 15 and added another birdie at the 17th to salvage a 71 - two under for the tournament.
