MONDAY, 10.00AM:
ERNIE ELS did it again, keeping ahead of the pack through all four rounds of the Buick Classic in Westchester to win two shots ahead of American Jeff Maggert on Sunday.
Els, who won the US Open just last week, is now at the top of the heap, overtaking a tired Tiger Woods to be number one in the world. “It’s quite a surprise. I don’t know what to say about it. I struggle for six months and win two tournaments and am the number one. But right at this exact moment, yes, I probably am number one. I’ve never said that before,” said a modest Els.
Maggert, who has finished second in PGA tournaments nine times in his career, was disappointed at yet another near miss. “It’s no fun to play well and finish second. Well, it is fun to play well, but it gets tiresome coming up short.”
Els had a 10-shot lead at one stage, but Maggert whittled it down to two — he closed with 270, after scoring one point less than Els in the third and fourth rounds. South African David Frost scored 281, after a disastrous first-round score of 78.
Deposed world number one Woods finished at 3-over 287, exhausted after his fifth tournament in six weeks. He said he would go home to Florida to fish, rest and try to refocus his mind on golf.
BUICK CLASSIC FINAL SCOREBOARD
268 Ernie Els (SA) 64 68 67 69 270 Jeff Maggert 67 69 66 68 274 Jim Furyk 67 68 69 70, Robert Damron 71 66 68 69 275 Jim Carter 69 70 71 65 277 Bob Estes 71 67 71 68, Clarence Rose 69 69 70 69, Stewart Cink 73 68 66 70 278 Brad Fabel 69 67 74 68, Peter Jordan 69 68 69 72 279 Brad Faxon 66 74 70 69 281 Frank Nobilo (NZ) 70 69 77 65, David Frost (SA) 78 67 66 70, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 67 73 69 72, Mike Reid 70 69 68 74, Billy Andrade 73 71 64 73 282 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 70 73 69 70, Lee Janzen 70 72 71 69, Nolan Henke 72 68 70 72, Chris Perry 71 72 67 72