British Open win is big but not easy for Els
By Leonard Shapiro
The Washington Post
GULLANE, Scotland — With five holes to play in yesterday's final round of the British Open, Ernie Els thought he had his fingers around the Claret Jug. But over those five holes, he appeared to let it slip from his grasp. Finally, with one breathtaking shot from greenside sand and a five-foot putt to save par on his fifth playoff hole, Els finally could clutch the trophy he has coveted since he was a youth.
Associated Press
"At times, I never thought I'd put my hands on this," Els said on the 18th green after accepting the silver symbol for golf's oldest major championship and a winner's purse of $1.01 million. "It's one of the hardest tournaments they've ever had this week, and the most rewarding. It was really, really hard work, but no one ever said it would be easy."
South Africa's Ernie Els, left, embraces Thomas Levet, of France, after earning his first British Open championship.
Els prevailed for his third major championship by outlasting Thomas Levet. After hitting his tee shot on the decisive hole into a deep fairway bunker, the resourceful Frenchman nearly holed a 45-foot par putt that could have extended the match. The bold stroke ran eight feet past, but he sank the bogey putt, exerting even more pressure on Els to make his five-footer for the victory.
"I lost to a great player," Levet said shortly after hoisting a startled Els in the air in a gesture of grand sportsmanship seconds after Els had made his final putt. "He is a big man, very talented. That bunker shot at the last was a piece of nerves. It could have gone anywhere. He's very talented."
Only 20 minutes before, the two men had survived a tense four-hole aggregate playoff that eliminated Australians Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby, after all four players were deadlocked at 6-under 278 at the end of 72 holes.
Levet's 65-foot eagle putt at the 546-yard 17th had carried him into the playoff on this dead calm, made-for-scoring afternoon. Appleby made a 30-footer for birdie on the final hole of regulation to get into the playoff. Elkington, who had to qualify last Sunday and Monday just to get into the field, birdied 17 to get to 6 under but will always look back on a missed putt from four feet at 18 that cost him a birdie to get to 7 under, a score that would have ended the tournament without a playoff.
Els, a two-time U.S. Open winner, would later admit he was a wreck after making a double bogey at the 186-yard 16th hole in regulation after a thinly hit chip from behind the sloping green skittered past the pin and all the way off the front and back down the fairway.
That ugly stroke resulted in a tumble from 7 under and a one-shot lead to 5 under and a one-shot deficit to Levet, Appleby and Elkington, all in the clubhouse area waiting to see if they would have extra holes to play.
"Walking off the 16th green was the lowest point of my entire week," Els said. "You make an easy par 5 into a really hard par 5 because of my mess-up at 16.
"All of a sudden, 17 is the most crucial hole of the tournament, and in fact, every shot I was going to hit the rest of the day was a crucial shot. I was under a lot of pressure there. I never felt anything like that."
It didn't show.
Els hit driver off the 17th tee, a 3-iron to about 30 feet, and two-putted for birdie, getting him back into the four-way tie at the top at 6 under. Now came the 449-yard 18th, and Els said, "After 17, I was still down. I felt now I'm going to make another birdie to win, so I was fighting, but my chin wasn't up, I'd say."
Els could hardly know that only four birdies were recorded at the 18th all day, and he was not able to add a fifth. His 30-footer stopped short of the cup, and his tap-in putt left him in the playoff, but also in a veritable daze sitting in the scoring trailer trying to collect his thoughts.
Fortunately, there was a 15-minute break between the end of regulation and the start of the playoff, and Els said he needed every second. He has been working with Dutch sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout, the same man who helped South African Retief Goosen think his way to the 2001 U.S. Open title, also won in a playoff. Els got words of encouragement from his wife, Leizl, ate a sandwich and huddled with his mind man one last time.
"He tried to get me upbeat and get me going again," Els said. "We basically agreed that I had four more holes to play and those four holes were the most important holes of my career. I was going to give it 100 percent on each and every shot."
This was the first four-man aggregate playoff in British Open history, and it was played in twosomes. The Royal & Ancient governing body said it was done for speed of play and crowd control purposes. Elkington and Levet went off first after a first-tee draw, followed by Els and Appleby.
Elkington was over and out with a bogey at No. 1 and another at 18, playing four holes in 1 over. Appleby's bogeys at 16 and 18 ended his hopes. Now it was down to Els and the rather obscure Levet, a 33-year-old European Tour journeyman with two career victories. Both had played the four holes in even par—Levett with a birdie at No. 1 and bogey at 18, Els with four straight pars.
Els hit first in sudden death and hit a safe 2-iron off the tee. He flushed it down the middle of the fairway, putting serious heat on Levet, who pulled his driver, a risky play on a narrow fairway with trouble everywhere. Bad choice: His ball was dead left from the start and skittered into a deep pot fairway bunker that left him standing in sand with a steep grass brick face in his path to the pin.
Levet had no choice but to hit out sideways into the fairway, while Els hit his second shot into a shallow greenside bunker down the left side. Levet left himself with a 40-footer on his third shot to the green, and now it was Els's turn for a bunker shot that will forever be the defining moment of this wild tournament.
Considered one of the most accomplished sand players in the game, he again demonstrated why with his third shot. His left foot was in the bunker and his right leg bent backward with his back foot on the grass bank behind him.
Els scooped the ball over the bank and onto the green. It seemed to roll forever, closer, ever closer toward the target. And when it stopped five feet away, a mighty roar went up from bleachers all around.
There was another lusty cheer when that one last five-footer buried in the hole. Ernie Els had won the Claret Jug he had dreamed about as a boy, and secured himself a special place in Open and major championship history, as well.
"Unbelievable," Els said. "I'm still in a little bit of shock. I didn't come in here with a lot of confidence. I'm going to leave here as the Open champion. It's been quite a little journey this week."
