Westwood tweets his disgust at final Dubai round

Lee Westwood left nobody in any doubt about how disgusted he was by his last-round display at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Westwood chose not to speak to reporters immediately after suffering a surprise one-shot defeat to Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello.

But on Twitter this morning he declared his “16-hour sulk” over and said: “Well tossed that one away nicely! Carnage on the greens! Managed not to break or smash anything post round!

“Waved the putter at it 33 times. Not even good enough for the monthly medal with form like that.

“Have now given Billy (caddie Billy Foster) approval to slap me (within reason!) if I don’t run the ball at the hole with pace over the next three weeks!”

Westwood was the third-round leader at the Emirates Club and two shots ahead when he sank a 40-foot eagle putt from short of the green at the second hole.

But he then bogeyed the fifth and his only birdie came when he missed a chance for another eagle from under 10 feet on the long 13th.

That brought him back level with Cabrera-Bello and Scot Stephen Gallacher, but while he missed putt after putt over the closing stretch the Canary Islander birdied the 17th.

Westwood did go back to world number two ahead of Rory McIlroy by finishing joint runner-up with Gallacher – McIlroy was in a tie for fifth – but neither is playing this week and under the two-year ranking system they are likely to swap places again going into next week’s Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.