Ernie Els became the first player in the history of the Championship to win three years in succession. Els looked down and out in round two, six down with 16 to play against Steve Stricker, but joined Gary Player and Sandy Lyle in the Championship's Houdini Club with seven birdies to win on the last green. In contrast Els was six up at lunch against Mark Brooks in the semi-finals and won 10 and 8. In the final against Vijay Singh he lunched one up, lost the 19th in the afternoon but then swept four up by winning four holes out of five from the fourth. Singh reduced the deficit to three with a sand wedge to two feet for a birdie at the 29th but Els halved each of the next five holes to win 3 and 2.
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