Lee Westwood has admitted it was probably a mistake to play in the Hong Kong Open.

The event saw Rory McIlroy finish as runner-up and take over the European Tour Order of Merit lead from Westwood with only this week's Dubai World Championship remaining.

Westwood finished 54th in Hong Kong, leaving him £115,000 behind the Northern Ireland golfer.

The Englishman found it hard to adapt to last week's course and thinks he should have missed that event so he could rest fully for the decider in Dubai, where victory on Sunday would make him Europe's No1 for the second time.

"In hindsight I think it probably was a mistake," said Westwood."I didn't know the course because I had never been there, but looking back it definitely didn't suit me.

"It was predominantly a hooker's course, with a lot of shots off the tee where it suited somebody that drew it and hit a hard draw, which is not my shot. I've worked a lot this year on 60-100 yards out but it's still not as sharp as everybody else and there were a lot of those shots last week.

"There were only two par fives and no rough, which generally doesn't suit my game. I like harder course where there's a bigger premium on tee-to-green stuff.

"You occasionally get weeks where things are not in your favour and I had a busy week off the course, too. I was a bit lethargic."