Westwood in tears after victory

LEE WESTWOOD broke down in tears after his BMW International Open victory yesterday as he revealed how close he came to quitting the game during three years of misery.

Westwood carded a final-round 66 at Nord-Eichenried for a 19-under total of 269 and three-shot victory over Germany's Alex Cejka to claim the £207,000 first prize.

The 30-year-old had not won since the last of his seven victories worldwide in 2000 which saw him end Colin Montgomerie's seven-year reign as European number one.

He had slumped from a high of fourth in the world to 215th at the start of the week, and failed to record a single top-10 finish last season.

But he has finally reaped the reward of seven months of hard work with coach David Leadbetter, who told him at the recent USPGA championship that his swing "looked as good as it ever has".

"I'm fairly emotional," admitted Westwood, who backed himself at 66-1 to win the tournament at the start of the week. "This is a big moment. There were times when I thought about putting the clubs away and not ever getting them out again and calling it a day, but that would have been the easy thing to do.

"I battled it out and hopefully this is one of many rewards. It's just great to win a tournament again."

"Things were being written in papers and magazines about me never coming back and never winning again and it's hard to keep picking yourself up and putting a positive edge on it when all people are talking about is the negative and bad things."

It was the first tournament Westwood's son Samuel had seen him win and it was the youngster's arrival which many felt was to blame for Westwood's downward spiral after he took two months off around the birth in 2001.

Westwood praised the role of veteran caddie Pete Coleman, who had finished runner-up in the event five times during his 22-year partnership with Bernhard Langer.

"Pete was a huge part of the win," said Westwood.

Westwood started the day three shots off the lead and looked to be dropping out of contention when he opened with six pars and then three-putted the seventh for bogey.

A birdie on the ninth kick-started his challenge however and walking off the 10th tee he correctly predicted that an inward nine of 30 would win the title.

Three birdies in succession quickly followed on the 11th, the latter from a matter of inches after a superb approach, and took him level with Cejka on 16 under as overnight leader Robert Karlsson's hopes nosedived with a double-bogey six on the 10th, the 1997 champion three-putting from 10 feet.

Cejka's bogey on the 16th then left Westwood out in front and he took full advantage, firing his second shot to within two feet of the hole for birdie on 16, before supplying the coup de grace by chipping in for another birdie on the next.

Westwood's brother-in-law Andrew Coltart made it a family affair with a share of third place on 15 under, alongside English duo Paul Casey and Gary Evans, Swede Peter Hedblom and France's Raphael Jacquelin.