MONDAY, 1.00PM:
TWO South Africans finished in the top 10 in the British Open at Royal Troon on Sunday. US Open champion Ernie Els and Retief Goosen finished 10 shots adrift of the champion Justin Leonard of the US.
Els carded his second 69 in a row to total 282 to share the 10th place with nine others, including former British Open champion Tom Watson. Els began his round level par by putting his first shot of the day in the right rough, but recovered with a wonderful second shot, which rolled up the front of the green to within one foot of the pin. Els went close to scoring an eagle at the fourth, but his 25 footer narrowly missed the cup and he had to settle for his second birdie.
“To win a major you need something special to happen, and for me it just never happened. In reality though, I played myself out of contention on Thursday,” said Els.
Goosen, who was happy with the way he played, said: “I had my chances to do even better but I wanted a top-10 finish and I got it.”
Leonard finished three shots ahead of Jesper Parnevik and Darren Clarke.