Ernie Els: king of match play
Brad Morgan
16 October 2007Ernie Els set the tone for the Springboks' victory over the Pumas in the Rugby World Cup semi-finals on Sunday evening when, earlier in the day, he outplayed Argentina's Angel Cabrera six and four to win a record seventh World Match Play Championship title at Wentworth.
Els, who has a house overlooking the 16th hole, collected a cheque for ₤1-million, the richest first prize in golf. He also had time to travel to Paris after his victory and take in South Africa's 37-13 dismantling of Argentina.
The win lifted Els from fifth in the world rankings up to fourth as he dominated his opposition from the first round through to the final.
In the first round he took on Colin Montgomerie and romped to a six and five win. Andres Romero was his opponent in the quarterfinals and Els repeated the margin of earlier his victory, again triumphing six and five.
His closest win came in the semi-finals when he saw off Henrik Stenson three and two. Then, in the 36-hole final, he took the lead on the very first hole and never relinquished it, going on to win six and four.
The final
Cabrera drop a shot on the first, and a birdie by Els on the third quickly lifted him two shots clear. The Argentinian pulled back to within a shot, with a birdie two on the par-three fifth, but a quarter of the way through the match, after nine holes, Els moved three in front following another birdie.
Cabrera carded a birdie on the tenth, but his effort came to nought as Els matched him. Through the rest of the first 18 holes, the gap fluctuated between two and three shots.
A bogie by Cabrera on the 21st saw Els extend his lead to four shots, but birdies on the 24th and the 27th cut the South African's lead back to two shots, with nine holes to play.
Els' response was excellent and decisive as he fired a birdie on the 28th and another one on the 30th. Under pressure, Cabrera dropped at the next hole, leaving five shots adrift. Els then closed out the match with a birdie on the 32nd to secure the six and four win.
At the awards ceremony afterwards, Els said: "I wish I could move Wentworth around the world with me"; he should enjoy the course, after all, he redesigned it and calls it home.
'It's a dream come true'
Celebrating his unprecedented seventh win in the tournament, the South African ace said: "It's absolutely a dream come true. In my wildest dreams, I would not have dreamt I could win it seven times."
His opponent in the final, US Open champion Cabrera, told reporters: "He (Els) is the king of Wentworth."
The World Match Play title was Els' first win of 2007, his last victory having come in the SAA Open in December. He said he hoped it was the start of better things.
"This has been a very important win to myself and to my career, " said Els.
"Obviously the world No.1 (Tiger Woods) wasn't here, but we had some really fine players, and you really had to play some good golf to get through.
"It seems like I'm a patient guy, but I'm quite an impatient person when it comes to getting results, and I haven't had the results this year go my way in Europe or America, or wherever I've played.
'Really satisfying'
"To get a win, and play the way I did, is really satisfying and hopefully this will open up the doors for some other wins."
It might have been only his first win of the year, but it was enough to lift Els to number one on the European Order of Merit. His season on the Tour is, however, over. He's taking a two-week break and then competing in the Singapore Open when the remaining three European Tour events take place.
Before Els began his assault on the record books, the most victories also stood behind a South African's name; Gary Player won the event five times, as did Spain's Seve Ballesteros.
With his seventh victory in the World Match Play Championships, however, Ernie Els has firmly written his name in the record books as the number one exponent of one-on-one golf.
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