Ernie Els, putting brilliantly down the stretch, fired a final-round six-under 66 on Sunday to win the star-studded Memorial Tournament by four strokes.
”Right now I feel like the best player, if you beat a quality field like this,” Els said after beating Fred Couples by four with Tiger Woods finishing six off the pace.
The South African claimed his third victory of the year, including his second on the PGA Tour.
He completed 72 holes at 18-under 270. Couples closed with a 68, but it was tighter than the final margin indicated, as Els had to sink a testing 1,2-metre birdie putt at the 17th hole to preserve a two-shot lead.
Els then birdied the last hole, while Couples’ closing bogey was purely academic.
Woods, who carded a 69, made a move with three birdies on the front, but stalled with nine straight pars on the back to finish third, a distant six shots back.
”My putter definitely won me the tournament this week,” said Els, who used his flatstick a career-low of 100 times after moving the ball back in his stance early in the week.
He collected $945 000, jumped to third on this year’s PGA Tour money list and may surpass Vijay Singh as the world number two when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Els has won 10 times in the past 18 months, and while some of those victories came against mediocre fields, it is still an impressive record.
”I’ve been playing consistently well for three years now,” the three-time major winner. ”I’m a different player than I was in 1997, even though I won the US Open that year. I’m more consistent than back then.”
Els admitted he has turned his game around from 2000, when he seemed he always was chasing Woods.
”It [2000] was a good year for me but then Tiger played at that level and I couldn’t quite play with him, 2001 was the low point,” Els said. ”I needed to redefine my goals, redefine my career, and I won the last tournament I played and dedicated myself on and off the course.”
Els (34) teed off with a 2-shot lead on Sunday and quickly fell behind as Couples made a hot start.
”The lead doesn’t mean much after the third round, and I lost it by the fourth hole today,” Els said. ”I had to change my game plan a little bit and compose myself because I did not come out of the gates the way I wanted. I was a little tight, I’m not going to kid you, but I responded nicely.”
Els regrouped with a birdie on number five, one of his seven birdies over the final 13 holes.
”The birdie on number five settled me down a bit,” Els added. ”If you can call it an easy 66 yesterday, today was a working man’s round of golf. I made almost every putt I had to make.”
”I think he’s one of the best putters on tour,” said Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. ”He’s got such a beautiful putting stroke. People maybe don’t realise how great his short game is.”
Even with Els wielding a hot putter, Couples kept the heat on until the 17th.
”Ernie is such an exceptional player that I knew I would have to play my best today. I was right there the whole time, which was a great feeling for me. I really haven’t hit it like this in a long time. I lost to the best player by far. There weren’t too many 66s this week, and he shot two on the weekend. That’s fantastic stuff.”
Woods looked much like his old self with a tidy front nine, but he hit some wayward shots coming home, he also displayed some of his old magic, holing a 48-foot flop shot to save par at the 14th hole.
”If I birdied three or four more coming in I might have had a chance,” Woods said after his third straight third-place finish.
”I’m very excited. I hit the ball very well this week.”
Woods will have a week off to prepare for the US Open, while Els will tune up by playing the Buick Classic in New York. – Sapa-AFP