Lee on a roll but Kaymer keeps it together

Thus did Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood sprinkle stardust on the Abu Dhabi Championship.

The facts are that the 23-year-old from Dusseldorf began with a six-shot lead and ended it with four of those strokes intact to become the youngest German to win on tour.

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The flattering margin, however, doesn't come close to doing justice to the day's drama, to the terrible attack of nerves that Kaymer overcame on his graduation day or the quality of the Englishman's play.

Westwood had called it perfectly on Saturday night when he said that an eight-shot margin between the two was retrievable.

"It's never easy when people think you've got the tournament won and the only thing you can do is blow it," he said.

That looked possible from the moment Kaymer stood on the first tee and swung about twice as fast at his first drive as any he had played over the first three rounds.

The consequent duck-hook headed for the undergrowth and a 75 per cent chance of finishing in an unplayable lie. Luck shone on him, though, and he escaped with a flukey par.

He still couldn't think straight, alas, never mind hit it that way.

The player who had played his third round without a bogey had three in a row from the 4th and made the long walk to the 7th tee thinking how small a six-shot lead actually is when things start to go awry.

At the 13th, Westwood actually stood over a 12ft birdie putt to reduce the deficit to a stroke.

"I thought I had it, too," he said, but the putt slipped by, as so many did for him last week.

Credit Kaymer for steadying the ship and playing the inward half in one under. The first to shake his hand was Westwood, who recognised that, for all his sterling efforts over the last two rounds, this was a deserved triumph.

Kaymer is in heady territory now. He can look forward to playing in America for the first time at the Accenture Match Play next month, not to mention a trip to the Masters in April.

He is a fortnight younger than Bernhard Langer was when he started winning in Europe; he is also only the second German after you-know- who to progress into the world's top 35.

Given his technical qualities, it would be surprising if he did not rise a lot higher before he is through.

Gambling for one final birdie at the end, Westwood bogeyed it to fall into a tie for second place with Swede Henrik Stenson — with another Englishman, Richard Finch, part of the three-way tie for fourth.

What a change of fortune this represented for the likeable Yorkshireman, who didn't know he would be eligible for this tournament three months ago, let alone finish so high.

As he said: "No one knows better than me the small margins between success and failure out here."

Late last October he pitched up in Majorca needing some cash to be sure of retaining his card and playing privileges for this season. A top-seven finish took care of that.

Four weeks later he went from that position to tournament winner with a three-year exemption after claiming a maiden success in the New Zealand Open.

"One thing I know is how much easier it is playing this game when the ball is rolling your way," said the 30-year-old.

"Back in October, when I didn't know I would have a job out here, it was so hard to post a good score. Now look at me. Today I didn't play well but had the odd good bounce and chipped and putted well to have my lowest score of the week."

The top names, who had looked ring-rusty during the first half of the event, flexed their muscles yesterday.

Ian Poulter shot 67 for a top-10 finish and Padraig Harrington a 68, with Luke Donald and Colin Montgomerie also taking something out of the week after finishing with under-par rounds.