Westwood and father arrive in Dubai with big prizes on their mind

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Lee Westwood's father could be celebrating in the Middle East this weekend even if the world No. 5 fails in his bid to win the inaugural Race to Dubai title.

Westwood, who won the European Tour's Order of Merit in 2000, fell nearly $192,000 behind Rory McIlroy by finishing well down the field in last week's Hong Kong Open -- an event he now wishes he had not bothered with.

Victory in the Dubai World Championship on Sunday, however, would give him the crown again whatever McIlroy does. And even a seventh-place finish would be good enough if the 20-year-old Northern Irishman puts in a bad display.

Westwood is concentrating on his game rather than working out all the permutations -- and he doesn't think his dad, a retired math teacher, has had his calculator out, either.

"He's more worried about his Race to Dubai fantasy league than mine," joked Westwood.

With a 15-strong team named "Westyswonders," John Westwood lies seventh in a league of thousands with imaginary earnings of almost $27 million entering the last leg.

His hopes of catching the leader are pinned on Henrik Stenson and Ernie Els. But good though the prize is -- a holiday in Dubai for two and a set of irons -- it hardly compares to what his son is in contention for.

The tournament first prize, even with a 25 percent cut because the sponsor has financial worries, is about $1.25 million and whoever wins the Order of Merit will collect a bonus of $1.5 million.

One putt at the end of the final round could therefore be worth more than $2.7 million.

"I'd like to have about a 15-shot lead with one hole to play," said Westwood, dismissing the idea that part of him would like it to go to the wire.

Nine years ago it did. Westwood entered the deciding WGC-American Express Championship at Valderrama $100,000 behind Darren Clarke, but took the season-long title by finishing second to Canadian Mike Weir.

"I don't think I've ever been as nervous as I was coming down the last needing to make a par," he said.

"If you watch the TV pictures, you will probably see that my knees were twitching," he added. "The two-foot putt I had to hole looked as if it was about 12 feet."

It is not only McIlroy he has to worry about because Martin Kaymer and Ross Fisher could also claim the season-lng title. But it is his young stablemate with whom Westwood will go head-to-head in the first round.

They last played together in Switzerland in September and finished level over the first two rounds. That will do for McIlroy over 72 holes this week because he is the one with the lead thanks to his runner-up finish in Hong Kong.

"In hindsight I think it probably was a mistake to play there," said Westwood, who managed only 54th place. "It was predominantly a hooker's course, with a lot of shots off the tee where it suited somebody that drew it and hit a hard draw, which is not my shot.

"I've worked a lot this year on 60-100 yards out, but it's still not as sharp as everybody else and there were a lot of those shots last week.

"There were only two par 5s and no rough, which generally doesn't suit my game," he added. "I like harder course where there's a bigger premium on tee-to-green stuff. I had a busy week off the course, too. I was a bit lethargic really throughout."

That will all be forgotten if things go as he hopes now, but if he comes up short Westwood will reflect more on some other weeks.

"I could have been standing here with a lead of a million or a million and a half," he explained.

"I bogeyed the last two holes of the [Dunhill Links Championship] to go from about fifth to ninth, bogeyed the (par-5) last hole in China, bogeyed the last hole of the Open obviously and lost a playoff [to Kaymer] in France."

A closing par at Turnberry would have put him in the playoff with Tom Watson and Stewart Cink, but instead he had to settle for third place there and at the PGA Championship a month later.

"It could have been a life-changing experience," he reflects now on the Open. "I'm not going to kid you. Since the PGA all of my thoughts on working on my game have been geared towards next April at Augusta.

"I've won an Order of Merit," he added. "Majors are things that I haven't won and they are the things that I'm gearing my game towards."

Copyright 2009 PA Sport. All rights reserved.