(Credit to Bleacherreport.com for photo)
Ernie Els returned to the major championship winners’ circle Sunday defeating Adam Scott by one shot to win the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Els–who hasn’t won a major since his 2002 Open Championship victory–birdied the eighteenth hole to card a 2-under 68, 7-under overall.
“Last year I was absolutely nowhere. I started believing a little more and somehow, here we are,” said Els. “I feel very fortunate, but I also feel Adam Scott. He’s a great player and a great superstar.”
Scott–who remains majorless–held a four shot lead walking off the 14th hole, however, Els’ birdie on 18 cut the deficit to three, then Scott made four consecutive bogeys.
He (Scott) failed to convert an up-and-down from a bunker on the fifteenth hole. Then he three-putted 16. The seventeenth hole, Scott pulled his approach shot left from the middle of the fairway. Finally, his pulled 3-wood into a pot bunker on 18 forced Scott to pitch-out sideways and get up-and-down from the fairway. He hit his third shot to 7 feet, but was unable to sink the putt.
“I had it in my hands with four to go,” Scott said. “I managed to hit a poor shot on each of the closing four holes. Look, I played so beautifully for most of the week. I shouldn’t let this bring me down.”
For Els, his major disappoinments’ have to come to a halt. Since his last major victory, Els’ closest calls came during the 2004 season. He finished second to Phil Mickelson at the Masters, lost in a playoff to Todd Hamilton in the Open Championship–his last runner-up finish in a major–and missed a playoff by one shot at the PGA Championship, won by Vijay Singh
Credit: ESPN.com and PGATour’s Twitter for the quotes and helped statistics in this article.
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