Ernie Els in record-breaking win
Brad Morgan
3 May 2005
Ernie Els recorded his third win of the season - from seven starts on the European PGA Tour - in record-breaking style at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club in Shanghai on Monday. He carded a tournament best 26-under par 262 to win by a massive 13 shots.
Els' victory margin was the biggest ever in an Asian Tour event, and the second largest in the history of the European PGA Tour - the event was co-sanctioned.
Even Els was surprised by his form. He failed to fire in the recent US Masters, finishing a career-worst forty-seventh, prompting him to make some changes to his silky smooth swing.
"Mentally and physically I've made a total about-turn in the space of a week", Els wrote on his website after his victory. "And you know, I'm a little surprised it happened as soon as it did. I've been working hard on putting right a few technical faults in my game, and I could see things turning around in last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in
Beijing.
'You can always turn things around'
"But to be honest with you, my confidence wasn't there yet, and I was basically still searching for my golf swing", Els wrote.
"But right from the start in this tournament I felt like my game was in nice shape. It just goes to show, if you maintain a good attitude and keep working hard, you can always turn things around."
Els fired rounds of 67, 62, 68, and 65. "The 62 was the key to the victory, but in the last two rounds I had to play really steady and not make big mistakes", he said.
His 26-under par total wasn't far off the European Tour and Asian Tour records of 29-under par, set by … Els, in the Johnnie Walker Classic at Lake Karriyup in Perth, Australia in 2003.
The title was his fifty-sixth international win - 21 of those on the European Tour - and the tenth time in his career that he claimed a wire-to-wire victory. It was worth €191 307 (R1 495 709).
'My confidence is back'
"My confidence is back, so I'm looking forward to carrying the momentum from this week into the next few months", Els said. "I tell you, I can't wait to tee it up again."
Despite his sensational run of success on the European Tour, Els remains second on the Order of Merit behind another South African, Retief Goosen, who has played only three events.
"The Goose" has yet to win this year, but his third-place finishes in two big tournaments, the Accenture Match Play and the US Masters, have been worth big bucks.
Goosen tops the money winners' list with €946 479 (R7 401 382). Els has pocketed €819 415 (R6 407 531).
Lower down the BMW Asian Open leaderboard, James Kingston shot a final round two-under par 70 to finish the tournament on eight-under 280, in a share of eighth place.
Richard Sterne slumped to a final round five-over par 77 to end on two-under 286, while Charl Schwartzel struggled to a closing 78
to finish on two-over par 290.
| 
