Dubai, United Arab Emirates (SportsNetwork.com) - Henrik Stenson closed with his second 8-under 64 of the week on Sunday to cruise to a six-stroke win at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.
Stenson finished with a tournament record score of 25-under-par 263. Lee Westwood set the old mark of 265 in 2009 and Rory McIlroy matched it last year.
With his eighth European Tour title, Stenson became the first man to win the Race to Dubai and PGA Tour's FedExCup in the same season.
'It has been an incredible summer for me, the fall in America was great and now this. It has been a dream season,' said Stenson. 'I played so well this week. I knew the guys would try to catch me, especially Ian (Poulter), who never gives up. I wanted to stay ahead of him and I managed to do that.'
Poulter carded a 6-under 66 to grab second place at minus-19. Victor Dubuisson birdied the last for a 71. He took third at 17-under 271, while Joost Luiten fired a 66 on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates to grab fourth at 16- under 272.
Luke Donald (67), McIlroy (67) and Westwood (68) shared fifth place at minus-15. They account for three of the last four Race to Dubai champions.
Stenson got off to a quick start with birdies on the first and third. That helped him keep a one-shot lead over Dubuisson, who birdied the second and third. Dubuisson collected seven birdies on the second and third for the week.
As Dubuisson parred three in a row from the fourth, Stenson birdied the fifth from three feet out to push his lead to two. Stenson two-putted for birdie on the par-5 seventh to remain two ahead as Dubuisson also birdied the seventh.
Dubuisson stumbled to a bogey on the eighth to slip three behind. Around the turn, he wrapped bogeys at the 10th and 12th around a birdie on No. 11. Combine that with Stenson's tap-in birdie on the 12th and Dubuisson found himself five back.
Stenson pushed his lead to six with a birdie on the par-5 14th. As he ran off three straight pars from the 15th, Poulter birdied the final two holes to briefly move within four.
At the last, Stenson hit a remarkable shot to within a foot. He kicked that in for a closing eagle that gave him the event scoring record.
'I had a great start and hit nice shots into one, three and five, then made a clutch putt on nine. Another clutch shot was the second at the 12th,' said Stenson.
Poulter mixed seven birdies and a single bogey in his round of 66.
'I have to take my hat off to him, unbelievable. I tried to run him down as hard as I could, but even with a sore wrist he has pressed on and I just could not get close enough,' Poulter stated. 'Henrik has not made a mistake all week and I just had to make sure of second place and some valuable Ryder Cup points.'
NOTES: Stenson, who earned 985,476 euros for the win, missed just four greens in regulation and six fairways for the week ... The top five in bonus pool of the Race to Dubai were Stenson, Poulter, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell and Jamie Donaldson ... This was the final event of the 2012-13 European Tour season, but the 2013-14 season starts on Thursday in South Africa with the South African Open Championship, where Stenson won in 2012.
Henrik Stenson won the season-ending World Tour Championship Sunday after shooting a final-round 8-under 64 for a 263 total.
Wen-Chong Liang birdied the first playoff hole on Sunday to beat Prom Meesawat and win the Resorts World Manila Masters.
The Asian Tour completed the inaugural Manila Masters on Sunday despite the ongoing humanitarian crisis in neighboring areas of the Philippines from Typhoon Haiyan.
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