Ernie Els penned another chapter for himself in golf’s record books when he successfully defended the HSBC World Match Play Championship, beating fellow European Tour Member Thomas Björn 4 and 3 in an enthralling 36 hole final on the West Course at Wentworth Club.
The South African, who celebrated his 34th birthday on Friday, gave himself a belated gift of a £1 million first prize alongside the not inconsiderably knowledge that he had moved alongside Seve Ballesteros and Gary Player as a five time winner of the prestigious title.
“It is great, just great,” said the Number One seed, who won seven titles in a calendar year for the first time in his career. “It has been a wonderful championship and there has been so much history in this tournament, and so many great people involved.
“It started 40 years ago with Arnold Palmer as the first champion and there have been so many great champions since then, the who’s who of golf really have won this tournament. What can I say? I had a really great week.”
As in his earlier victories over Tim Clark and Vijay Singh, Els took the upper hand early in the morning round and, despite a lapse in the middle of the back nine, gains at the 16th and 17th saw him recover his composure to go to lunch three ahead.
The first four holes of the afternoon round were halved before Björn’s task got even harder as Els took the short fifth hole to move four up after the Dane found bunker trouble by the green.
Björn, who earlier in the week had seen off Len Mattiace, Masters Tournament Champion Mike Weir and Open Golf Champion Ben Curtis en route to the final, battled hard but found his task even stiffer when a pulled drive into the trees at the ninth led him to concede the hole to leave Els five up with nine to play.
When the Dane then missed the green at the short tenth to let Els move six up, the final seemed in danger of petering out, but a brave Björn rally ensured the end of the contest will be remembered for many years.
Firstly Björn showed his battling qualities with a 20 foot putt for a winning eagle three at the 12th before he created his own spectacular piece of World Match Play history at the short 14th.
Standing five down with five to play, the Dane drew the biggest cheer of the week from the huge galleries with an immaculately struck four iron which ran into the hole for only the third hole in one in the 40 year history of the World Match Play Championship, but the first ever at the 14th.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Björn could not keep up that level of momentum, however it still took another piece of magic to end the contest, Els holing from 25 feet for the crucial half in four at the 15th after his tee shot had found the fairway bunker.
Els admitted he was full of admiration for Björn’s bravery in producing a hole-in-one under the most immense pressure. “It was an unbelievable shot,” he said. “It just shows you the character of the guys we have here.
“Tim Clark showed it the other day against me and Vijay showed it yesterday too, that when the chips were down, they came right back at me. It just shows that you can’t keep a good man down and I think we will definitely remember the tournament for that shot.”
Björn was given the consolation of a £37,000 Toyota Land Cruiser for his wonder stroke but admitted it still did not fully take away the disappointment of defeat.
“There are times in your golf career that you get a chance to do something that is a bit more than the normal thing and I had my chance today,” said the Dane. “I didn’t play my best golf today and I told you yesterday that if I don’t play my best, I’m up against one of the finest and it is not going to be good enough.
“But it is no shame to lose to this guy. They don’t come any better than him and he has the experience in this tournament and he knows how to handle himself in this tournament. I had three or four holes this morning where I got momentum going but I never got it going for a long enough stretch and then he is just too tough a cookie to get through.
“But I feel I’ve been treated very well with a lot of respect from the press this week which is a really good thing. I feel I’ve come a long way this week with the support of the crowds but it just wasn’t enough to beat Ernie today.”