President Thabo Mbeki on Monday congratulated Ernie Els after winning the British Open Championship on Sunday.
Mbeki’s representative Bheki Khumalo said Mbeki phoned Els on Monday morning and told him South Africa was proud of him.
”He has done very well and Els is the second South African to win British Open since 1974.”
Els made hard work of winning the sudden death as he dumped his second shot from the fairway into a greenside bunker, leaving the door open for Frenchman Thomas Levet who had hit his drive into a fairway bunker up the left of the 18th.
He managed to get up and down while Levet could do no better than bogey, allowing Els to join previous golfing legends who have won the world’s oldest championship at Muirfield like Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo. – Sapa