Westwood not risking top spot

LEE WESTWOOD has strengthened his place at the top of the world rankings and re-ignited his bid to retain the European Tour’s Race to Dubai order of merit by finishing a stroke behind Francesco Molinari in the HSBC World Championship in Shanghai.

However, it seems the English man is placing the first of those well ahead of the second given he hasn’t entered either the $6m (€4.3m) Barclays Singapore Open beginning on Thursday or next week’s Hong Kong Open.

Accordingly, Westwood would need to win the Dubai World Championship (November 25-28) to remain European number one for the second successive year and hope that current pacesetters Martin Kaymer and Graeme McDowell finish well down the field.