World Number Three, Ernie Els, will begin a 72 hole quest to join an exclusive club of golfing legends in the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne Golf Club as he seeks to become only the sixth player in the history of official competition to win a fourth consecutive tournament title.
Only five players in the history of the sport have managed such a feat before, with Hale Irwin and Tiger Woods the only men to have done so in the modern era with Woods winning four consecutive Bay Hill Invitational titles, won on the US PGA Tour between 2000 and 2003, and Irwin winning the Turtle Bay Championship five times in a row from 2000 to 2005 (it was not played in 2004).
The other legendary names to have achieved this monumental feat are Tom Morris Junior, who won the Open Golf Championship in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1872 (the Championship not having been played in 1871), Walter Hagen, winner of the US PGA Championship from 1924 to 1927, and Gene Sarazen, who captured four Miami Open titles in a row in the years 1926, 1928, 1929 and 1930 (with the competition not contested in 1927).
As it stands, Els’s three Heineken Classic titles make him one of five players to have won three European Tour titles on the trot. Englishman Nick Faldo captured three Irish Opens in 1991, 1992 and 1993, Colin Montgomerie of Scotland won the Volvo PGA Championship from 1998 to 2000, Tiger Woods secured the WGC – NEC Invitational between 1999 and 2001, and Welshman Ian Woosnam claimed the Monte Carlo Open three times in 1990, 1991 and 1992.
Els, the man they call ‘The Big Easy’, will have to be at the top of his powers to overcome the extra pressure attached to his quest for victory this week, but few will bet against the South African, given his encyclopaedic knowledge of Royal Melbourne and his recent, unbeatable record in the tournament.
The 35 year old current European Tour Order of Merit holder began his stunning run of victories in the Heineken Classic in 2002 when he cruised to a five shot victory. In 2003, he produced an outstanding final round of 65 to win by a single shot, and repeated that one stroke margin of victory last season when he posted a 20 under par winning total.
Els’s sublime opening round of 60 last season made him the 11th player in European Tour history to shoot such a low number, and his halfway aggregate of 18 under par 126 was the lowest 36 hole total to par since the Tour statisticians began the record books in 1972.
All of that good work nearly came undone though, as Els began his final round in uncharacteristic style. Starting the final day with an eight shot lead, Els lost all of those eight shots in the space of an incredible nine holes which featured bogeys at the first, third, seventh and ninth alongside a triple bogey seven at the fourth.
But he managed to regain his composure and eased the pressure on himself with a run of three consecutive birdies from the 12th to move two shots ahead on 20 under par, which, in the end, was good enough for a one shot victory over Australia’s Adam Scott.
New Zealand’s Michael Campbell, winner of the Heineken Classic two seasons in a row in 2000 and 2001, will provide stiff competition for Els alongside another former Champion, Thomas Björn of Denmark, who took the title in 1998. Both Björn and Campbell won the tournament when it was staged at the Vines Resort. In fact, Els is the only player to have won the event since its move to Royal Melbourne GC.
The Australian challenge is likely to be strong, with home favourites Jarrod Moseley, the 1999 Heineken Classic Champion, Nick O’Hern and Scott likely to push Els all the way as he bids to write another chapter in the annals of golfing history.
