Italian Molinari Holds on to Take HSBC Champions Title

The HSBC Champions, one of the major golfing events with all top international golf players taking part, has concluded in Shanghai.

Italian Francesco Molinari maintained his blistering form to hold off world number one Lee Westwood and clinch the HSBC Champions tournament.

The 27-year-old held his nerve on the 18th hole to beat Westwood by one shot.

For more on the last day of the game, CRI sports reporter Paul Ryding has the details.

The Italian held off the challenge of Lee Westwood in a thrilling finale to win by one stroke and take his first tour title in four years.

" Well you know I had been waiting for a while now, and I knew it had to come sooner or later and everybody kept telling me that if I had to wait so long it was going to be for a big tournament, and this is just fantastic. I'm really happy obviously about the way I played today, it wasn't easy against Lee, and he played some awesome golf and it was just a great day for everybody I think. "

It represents a fantastic victory for the Italian who lead form wire to wire and dropped just four shots in four rounds of golf around the testing Sheshan International Golf Club course.

Molinari scoops the 1.2-million-dollar first prize after holding off continuous charges from Westwood and eventually finishing on 19-under par, a full 10 shots clear of the next challengers Richie Ramsay and Luke Donald on nine-under.
The win sees the Italian move into the top 15 in the world standings, the highest position of his career.

" Moving up the world rankings is always a goal for everyone, but to be honest the goal was to get in the top 20 by the end of the year. It was a tough challenge but I've done it now. "

Molinari and Westwood had fought it out for the lead since the first round and the Italian never relinquished his lead despite Westwood's close to flawless performance, the Englishman dropping just two strokes in 72 holes.

Molinari's 19-under-par total represents the second biggest in World Golf Championship history, one behind Englishman David Howell's 268 back in 2005.

The result means that Westwood has finished runner-up in three competitions this year, the other two being the Masters and the British Open. It also represents Westwood's 9th top three finish in the last three years. That consistency is enough for him retain his grip on the world number one spot.

The win caps a fantastic year for Italian Molinari who was part of the victorious Ryder Cup winning team earlier this year and becomes the third Italian European Tour winner this season following his brother Eduardo and 17-year-old Matteo Mannesaro.

World number 211 Richie Ramsay from Scotland finished joint third with world number eight Englishman Luke Donald.

Tiger Woods rallied late on the back nine of his round to finish tied-sixth on seven-under. While defending champion Phil Mickelson struggled to a share of 41st place with a total of one-over-par.

For CRI Sports, I'm Paul Ryding.