Win for Westwood
Almost perfect conditions on the Old Course for the Sunday final of the Dunhill Links Championship produced some near perfect golf.

A new Old Course record of 62 was set by Brian Davis and Ernie Els produced a memorable 35 foot putt from off the green for a birdie at the 17th hole. But it was Lee Westwood whose six birdies and steady nerve ensured he held on to his lead, taking the title with an aggregrate score of 267, just one point clear of Els.

The prospect of nearly £500,000 arriving in his bank account no doubt helped Westwood's conversion from outright dislike to appreciative recognition of the subtle charm of the Old Course.

"It's in my top 100 now," was his wry comment as he savoured victory in the still autumn sunshine. This was the man who not long ago dismissed the 600-year-old course as not being in the top 200 courses in Fife, let alone the world!

"I've learned to like it and I actually look forward to going out there now. It just seems to have clicked with me," he added.

Playing in an event conceived as a 'homage to links golf', Westwood's conversion to links golf must be complete. He certainly 'clicked' on all three tough links courses - Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course - with only one bogey in four rounds.

Victory became a real possibility following a superb round at Kingsbarns on Saturday where seven birdies and an albatross gave him 62 and set a new course record. He had to continue this good form in the final on the Old Course in the face of a number of serious challengers. Among these were Darren Clarke, Raphael Jaquelin, Michael Campbell, Simon Yates and Richard Sterne who were all within four shots of Westwood's aggregate 200 at the start of play on Sunday. Only one shot further behind were Paul Lawrie and Ernie Els.

It was Els, the World's No 2, who proved to be main threat on the day finishing with two birdies for a 64. This was not quite enough to beat Westwood, however, who held on to his one stroke lead by completing the last three holes in par for a 21 under par winning aggregate of 267.

"The feeling coming up the 18th was very emotional," said Westwood. "With a one shot lead anything can happen with the Valley of Sin there. And the flag was cut the closest I've ever seen to it. Even when I got the ball onto the green it ran 20ft past. I said to myself 'don't hit this putt too hard or it will be down in the Valley', but fortunately I didn't."

Westwood rated it one of his most important wins. "This win is very high up there. People say I don't have a links game but I've proved them all wrong now. It moves me up the World Rankings, the Volvo Order of Merit and gives me massive Ryder Cup points. It was nice to win in Munich but I didn't feel totally comfortable. It was never going to test my game like these three courses. It was great to make only one bogey all week. The turnaround in my game since the start of the year is just incredible."

The combination of good weather and the chance to see a variety of stars including Hugh Grant, Samuel L Jackson, Steve Redgrave and Gary Lineker helped boost the crowd figures which were up by 44% reaching nearly 14,600 on Sunday.

New record
Another Englishman with plenty to smile about was Brian Davis, the 29-year-old from London who set a new record on the Old Course. His 10 under par 62 beats the previous record of 63 set in last year's Dunhill by Colin Montgomerie and Paul Lawrie. Starting at the 10th , Davis eagled the 12th and went onto make eight birdies. His score gave him an aggregate of 272 and pushed him up into shared 6th place.

He said: "It's great to have the course record at the Home of Golf. Lee Westwood took away my record of 65 at Kingsbarns yesterday so it's nice to get this one today. I just wanted to shoot as low as I could and just caught fire."

Team win for father and son
Sam Torrance and his 15-year-old son Daniel picked up the team prize with a better-ball aggregate of 37 under par 251.
Proud dad said: "I am so full of pride. Daniel shot 73,70, 68 and 67. That was just incredible for a 15-year-old and fantastic golf for anyone. I could never have gone out there and teed it up at 15. Of course I knew his potential, but this week proved a lot more to me, to see him doing it under the spotlight."

"On the 15th at Kingsbarns, which is a very difficult par three, I just tried to play a shot to the left side of the green for safety but missed the green. Daniel walked over to me and said 'do you mind if I go for the pin'. He did and he knocked it 20ft from the pin. On the 9th Hole today I knew we would probably win and I went with driver and it went into a bunker stone dead. I wanted to tell him to hit a six iron and make four, so he ripped a three wood right into the middle of the green. That's the way he is, aggressive and good, very good. Now we have a tender situation with him wanting to turn pro. He has so much potential it's scary, but he is only just 15."

Daniel added: "Playing with my dad was great and much as I respected him before, it's doubled now. If I go on to win half as much as he has then I'll be happy."

Another young golfer who took part in the Dunhill was 16-year-old Daniel Sommerville from St Andrews. As the winner of the Boys' Order of Merit in the St Andrews Links Junior Golf Association, Daniel was offered a last-minute opportunity to play in the Championship. He was paired with Kevin Na, a 19-year-old professional from Korea. They finished with a score of 200, 16 under par.