Lee Westwood takes one-shot lead into final round of Abu Dhabi Championship as he chases 44th title

Just to be leading going into the final round of one of the European Tour’s most lucrative events in your 28th year on the circuit is surely achievement enough. Yet such are the standards Lee Westwood has set himself in his remarkable stint at the top end of the game that he will only be satisfied with victory in the Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday.

On 14-under, the 46-year-old is one clear of Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger and Italian Francesco Laporta, with Matt Fitzpatrick on 12-under and Spain’s Sergio Garcia and the American Kurt Kitayama one further back. To put Westwood’s longevity into perspective, Fitzpatrick and Kitayama were not even born when the Worksop man first got on Tour as a teenager in 1993, an incredible feat in itself considering he only took up the game five years before.

“If you’d asked that 19-year-old at Q-school in Montpelier, what will you be doing at start of 2020, I doubt he’d have given the answer that he’d be leading a $7m Rolex Series Event,” Westwood said with a smirk. “It’s just fun, isn’t it? Playing the game that I love.”

There is no question that Westwood adores his profession, but perhaps his enduring ability to mix it with the best can be put down to the fact that he has never been obsessed by it. And in the twilight of his career, the former world No 1 is finding it easier than ever to leave his clubs in the boot.

Westwood figures that in-between finishing 2019 in November and coming here, he played “about three rounds and hit balls on the range for about three hours in total”. “I just gave my mind a rest,” Westwood added.

Not that there was not plenty to think about. Westwood began working with fellow Tour pro Robert Rock at the back end of last season and also returned to his former putting coach, Phil Kenyon in October. The former has brought more width to Westwood’s familiar motion and the latter has persuaded him to employ the “claw” grip. It is difficult to deduce which was more stunning in his third-round 65.

The 20-footer for par on the 11th was vital to maintain the momentum, but his hybrid from 266-yards on the par-five eighth to kick-in range for the eagle was also a thing of beauty.

“I expected to have to work hard on my game this and scramble a lot,” Westwood said. “But I played well, hit a lot fairways and putted well. I still get excited and have to rein myself in when I’m out there playing in the third round and start looking at leaderboards and start thinking about winning on Sunday night, but that’s where you use your experience. It’s big money and there’s a lot at stake with my ranking and everything but I’ll have no problem sleeping tonight.”

A 44th professional title would hurtle him back into the world’s top 50 and also put him in giddying contention for an 11th Ryder Cup appearance. The £900,000 winning cheque would also be most welcome and would see Westwood approach the £40m mark in career earnings on Tour.

However, there is quality all over this leaderboard. Wiesberger matched Westwood’s 65 and it should be remembered that he led last year’s race to Dubai until the last event while Tommy Fleetwood is lurking on eight-under and is the type to go low to claim the glory. But world No 1 Brooks Koepka is surely too far adrift on five-under following a 70.