ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ernie Els shot 31-under-par to win the Mercedes Championships in Kapalua, Maui, this weekend.
Els wins Mercedes KAPALUA, Maui >> Ernie Els will tell his grandkids the story of the time he lost to Tiger Woods in a playoff at the 2000 Mercedes Championships.
with ease
The South African shakes his
Leaderboard dotted with graybeards
checkered history in the event
Mediate on history's doorstep once again
By Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.comHe will relay how he and his caddy thought that getting up and down from 50 feet on the second playoff hole would be the way to go -- get that par and move on to the next hole. With that thought in mind, Els heard Woods tell his caddy as he prowled the green that he thought he could make his monster putt.
Tiger did. And, as Els is fond of saying, that's the difference between Tiger and the rest of the world.
Woods left here to have one of the greatest years in PGA Tour history, winning nine times, including three consecutive majors, and setting or tying 27 tour records. For Els, he would depart the island chain with the first of five second-place finishes on tour, the most since Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer in 1964.
It has taken Els several seasons to shake the effects of Y2K. He turned a second-place finish at the British Open in 2000 into a third major title at Muirfield last year. It gave him the kind of confidence needed to hold off a hard-charging field that jammed the leaderboard by day's end yesterday and win the $5 million Mercedes Championships by eight shots over Rocco Mediate and Korean K.J. Choi.
Els can only hope that his PGA Tour scoring mark of 31-under-par will provide a similar launching pad as Woods' win here did three years ago. The powerful South African will have a $1 million lead on Woods after he deposits the winner's check in his account, in addition to a new Mercedes automobile.
His 31-under mark broke the 72-hole record in relation to par set first by John Huston, who finished 28-under at the 1998 Hawaiian Open, and equaled by Mark Calcavecchia, who finished 28-under at the 2001 Phoenix Open.
Joe Durant was 29-under after 72 holes at the 2001 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, which is a 90-hole event. But Els erased all those marks, making the scoring record all his own. Not even Woods can say that.
"I've had some good weeks in my career, but obviously to shoot 31-under, I haven't done that -- nobody's done it," Els said as the press room broke out in laughter. "That's kind of an understatement.
"Yeah, I knew about it (the record) because you guys planted the seed I think yesterday. It really plays on your mind, believe me. You guys just sit here and say things, but it gets stuck in our heads. Yeah, when I eventually got to 29-under par, I started thinking about it again. It's nice to finish the way I did."
With seven holes to play, Els held a slim one-shot advantage over Choi. The world's No. 3 player birdied the 12th and Choi bogeyed to give Els the breathing room he needed to seal the deal. He birdied Nos. 14, 15, 16 and 18 to pull away like Secretariat at Belmont in 1973, wiping out his second-place finish here to Woods in 2000 and third-place effort to Jim Furyk in 2001.
"Winning the way we did here this year is very, very satisfying," Els said. "I told you guys, I didn't think anything was owed me, but the golf course certainly gave me a lot back this week. Now that I lost by close margins, this makes it feel better.
"The loss in 2000 definitely hurt. Tiger was in total control that year. I played pretty well myself, maybe not at this level scoring-wise. He definitely, you know, shot us all down, and especially me. I was trying to downplay it at the end of that year, but I think it eventually took its effect on me. I still kind of had a hangover from the previous year's defeats. I finished second six times that year (including the European tour). But that's history."
Els hopes the history he made lasts for a while, but conceded records are made to be broken. He was one of 11 golfers to break 20-under this week, something only David Duval had done when he set the Mercedes mark of 26-under in 1999 that Els shattered.
Vijay Singh moved up the leaderboard with a final-round 65 to finish in a tie for fourth with South African Retief Goosen at 22-under. Rookie of the year Jonathan Byrd tied for sixth with Furyk, Chris Riley and Bob Estes at 21-under for the tournament. But as good as those numbers were, they couldn't match Els.
The only thing: Was Els sad Woods wasn't here to see this?
"I didn't miss him, no," Els said, then smiled. "He can take another month off."
And what about the 31-under? Does it mean anything to you?
"I think in the long term, yeah," Els said. "Right now, not much. But in the long term, yes, it will be nice to tell (his children) Samantha and Ben one day, if it holds up. Touch wood. At least I held the record for a while."
Mercedes Championships
