Ernie Els captured his fourth title in five tournaments when he successfully defended the Heineken Classic after a dramatic final day at Royal Melbourne.
The reigning Open Champion and World Number Two, who claimed consecutive victories in the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the first two US PGA Tour events in Hawaii followed by second place in Singapore last week, shot a final round of 65 to set the clubhouse target of 15 under par 273.
Behind him Australian Open champion Peter Lonard stood on the 18th tee level but his tee shot found the right rough and he bunkered his second to record only his third bogey of the week and drop back to 14 under par.
That left him tied with Nick Faldo, the six time Major Champion, challenging for his first title in almost six years. Faldo led the field after a flawless third round and needed a birdie on the tough final hole to force the contest into a play-off. But with the pin tucked behind the bunker on the right hand side Faldo hit his approach through the green and his chance was gone.
Els' victory was secured on the back nine, where he played with a calm assurance despite the pressure to produce two magnificent saves on the 16th, with a putt from the fringes, and again on the 18th.
Els struggled over the first two days and at the halfway point found himself ten shots off the lead. But he found his rhythm on Saturday and saved his finest effort for the last round.
"I didn't think I had much chance after Thursday and Friday," he said. "But I love this golf course and I got my swing together and amazingly I came through."
As a dramatic final round unfolded, four different players topped the leaderboard, with Scotland's Stephen Gallacher leading the early charge.
Gallacher through the pack to pick up seven shots for a final round of 65 matched only by Els and Jarrod Moseley. He drew level at the top of the leaderboard with Faldo on 11 under and then again on 12 under. The jostling for positions was intense, with first Faldo moving one up and then, after five players had been tied for the lead on 12 under, Lonard moved clear.
But Els refused to be discounted and promptly sank birdies on the ninth and tenth to join Lonard tied for first on 13 under.
Els then sank successive birdies to move onto 15 under par before battling the closing holes to reach the clubhouse with a 72-hole winning total of 273.
