Ernie's Heineken Classic hat-trick
Brad Morgan
9 February 2004
He turned what looked likely to be a record-breaking victory into a skin-of-the-teeth win, but once again Ernie Els demonstrated his fantastic ability to be a winner anywhere in the world when he claimed the Heineken Classic title at Royal Melbourne for the third year in succession.
It was a wire-to-wire victory, set up by an astonishing 12-under-par 60 in the first round, which equalled the European Tour's record for the lowest score over 18 holes. The 60 also bettered Els' previous career low of 61, registered in the Dubai Desert Classic in 1994.
Tour record
Els' astonishing opening round put him four shots clear of Michael Campbell, and when he fired a six-under-par 66 in the second round he extended his lead to seven shots. His 18-under par total of 126 was a new Tour record.
Els was less spectacular in the third round, carding a four-under-par 68, but that was still enough to extend his lead to a
seemingly unassailable advantage of eight shots.
As it turned out, it required an escape act for Els to win after a shocking front nine in the final round that all but cost him the tournament. In the first round he had seared the front nine, shooting 29, but on the final day he struggled to an almost incomprehensible 42, a full 13 shots worse off.
He began bogey, birdie, bogey, triple bogey, and added further bogeys at the seventh and the ninth. Meanwhile, Adam Scott knocked in three birdies on the front nine, and suddenly, unbelievably, he and Els were tied with nine to play.
Pulling it together
After such a disastrous front nine, Els somehow found it within himself to pull his game together. Both he and Scott birdied the tenth, then both made par on the eleventh. The South African followed that up with birdies on 12, 13 and 14, with Scott sinking a long putt on the fourteenth to keep the deficit down to two shots.
At the
seventeenth the Aussie drained a birdie putt from 20 feet, meaning the title would go down to the wire on the eighteenth. Els secured par, leaving Scott a 15-footer to force a playoff. He was just inches short, and Els had won his second title in two attempts on the European PGA this year.
That finish from Els was, in its own way, an impressive feat, given the struggle he had with his game on the front nine. He had followed his opening nine 42 with a 32 over the inward nine.
'An amazing day'
"To score 42 on a front nine with everything going against you and somehow turning it back and hitting good shots, it was an amazing day", Els commented. "You're thinking crazy stuff. It was like I had never played this game before on the first nine."
It's worth noting that the big South African felt he had crossed some kind of hurdle by turning his game around so drastically to win. Golfing world, you've been warned!
South African
scores:
Ernie Els: 60 66 68 74 268 –20
James Kingston: 71 67 69 73 280 -8
Trevor Immelman: 70 70 73 69 282 -6
Martin Maritz: 70 71 75 71 287 -1
| 
