Ernie Els saw an eight-stroke lead disappear in nine holes on Sunday but the Big Easy recovered for a closing two-over 74 to beat Australian Adam Scott by one shot and win his third straight Heineken Classic.
Els made it look easy when he led by four shots after the first round, seven following the second and by eight over Scott and New Zealand’s Gareth Paddison after Saturday.
But that lead was gone by midway through Sunday’s final round in the swirling winds and 38 degrees Celsius temperatures around Royal Melbourne.
Els made the turn in six-over 42 — including four bogeys and a triple bogey — and Scott caught Els on the ninth after a two-under 34. But four birdies in five holes on his bogey-free back nine helped Els retake the lead for good.
On the 17th, Scott pulled to within one shot with a birdie after Els’s 25-foot birdie putt fell inches short. On the final hole, Scott’s wedge to the green landed 15 feet from the flag — Els was about 20 feet away — but the Australian’s birdie putt that would have forced a playoff stopped inches short.
Els finished with a 20-under-par total of 268 while Scott’s closing 67 left him at 19-under 269.
Australian Peter Fowler was third at 15-under 273 after a 70, followed by Sweden’s Peter Hanson at 274 after a 71. Stephen Gallacher of Scotland and Michael Campbell of New Zealand, who both shot closing seventies, were tied for fifth at 13-under 275 while Paddison was tied for seventh after a 74.
Els’s final round was a 14-shot turnaround from his opening round of 60 at Royal Melbourne — where he flirted with a 59 and had 29, not 42, on the front nine. On Friday, he set a European Tour record for the lowest 36-hole score after a 66.
On the US PGA tour, Fred Couples shot a final-round 77 to win the 1983 Kemper Open. And Barry Vivian of New Zealand had a closing 80 and still won the 1979 Australian Masters at Huntingdale, just down the road from Royal Melbourne.
In 1998, Els watched Tiger Woods, who trailed the South African by eight shots on the final round of the Johnnie Walker Classic, tie him in regulation and beat him in a two-hole playoff in Thailand.
Els should have known it was going to be a long day when his six-foot putt for par lipped out on the first. When playing partner Scott birdied, Els’s eight-shot lead from overnight was reduced to six.
His real problems began on the fourth. His third shot out of a greenside bunker went rolling past the flag and off the green. His attempted chip back hit the top of the green, then rolled back down the hill — further away from the hole than where he had hit it.
His fifth shot went to about eight feet, where he missed the putt for double bogey before sinking a three-footer for a 7.
Scott birdied the 304m par-four fifth to pull to within three shots of Els. Els had a tap-in for par, his first of the day after a bogey, birdie, bogey and triple bogey.
On the seventh, Els’s tee shot went into the right rough and his approach was short and left of green. His chip left him with a 15-footer for par, but he missed it to reduce his lead to just two shots. At that point, Els was five-over after seven holes.
Els had 178m to the hole on his second shot at the par-five ninth, but his approach hit the high grassy rough near the green, with a bunker in between. Els fluffed the wedge out and it stuck in the side of the bunker slope in a difficult lie.
With one foot in the bunker and the other on the green’s fringe, Els popped the ball out but left himself a 30-foot putt for par.
When that missed, it was his second bogey in two days on the hole after he eagled it during his record round on Thursday.
Scott, meanwhile, saw his eagle putt from off the green fall short and he made a four-foot birdie. With Els’s bogey, it left Els and Scott tied at 16-under and the South African had blown his eight-shot lead.
Nick Faldo shot a closing 73 to finish at three-under 285; Greg Norman had a final-round 75 to finish at even-par 288. — Sapa-AP