Westwood congratulates Molinari after the Italian's victory in ShanghaiTwo bogeys on the week so there's not many negatives. I mean, 18-under-par and nine shots clear of the third is never too bad.
Lee Westwood
Quotes of the week
The Englishman finished on 18-under-par after four rounds at the Sheshan International Golf Club, nine shots clear of third place, but still came up just short.
Instead it was Molinari who held on to clinch victory - just his second triumph on the European Tour and a first success for five years.
It means Westwood has still to win on the European circuit this season, but the 37-year-old insisted he was delighted with his performance, coming as it did after a three-week lay-off due to calf and ankle injuries that he is yet to fully overcome.
"I hit a lot of good shots and a couple of poor ones today," stated Westwood. "I also had a bit of bad luck.
"It was one of those things. I mean, 18-under-par and nine shots clear of the third is never too bad.
"Two bogeys on the week so there's not many negatives. I hit some good shots down the stretch, fabulous five-iron into 18, I thought I was a little bit unlucky to release up that slope."
Westwood, who has consolidated his position as world number one, was also full of praise for Ryder Cup team-mate Molinari who held his nerve in impressive style to complete a wire-to-wire triumph.
"Not really any negatives other than that I didn't win the tournament but sometimes somebody just plays a bit better and that's what Francesco did," Westwood added. "His short game was there, I thought he deserved to win, he played well.
"I just needed the breaks to win but it didn't happen. It was all about trying to win this week. The rankings come as a consequence of playing well, and I'm playing well and I know I am.
"Today is just very typical of how I've played for the last two years. I was pretty pleased with my short game, the pitch on 16 was in an awful spot, you don't get any harder than that."
Molinari secured himself an early birthday present with his success - the Italian turns 28 on Monday.
The Turin native took great pleasure from his performance and especially the manner in which he handled the pressure of his duel with Westwood.
"We were just really watching each other and it was really trying to birdie every hole because we were both playing well and pars weren't going to be good enough," Molinari said.
"The 16th was definitely a turning point. I didn't make a good lay-up off the tee but I played a great wedge shot and that obviously put Lee under a little bit of pressure and his chip wasn't easy at all.
"I was calm, I knew I was playing well, I was putting well, I knew that it was going to be really tough because we all know how Lee plays. I just tried to stay calm and take it shot by shot and luckily the plan worked today.
"This is the champions tournament and I didn't win a tournament in the last five years so I had to make up for it.
"I'm obviously amazed with the way I played, and you know, to have the number one player in the world trailing you by one shot, it's not easy.
"I was under pressure all the time, pretty much from the first round. I'm just really, really happy. It's been a long time coming."
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