Ernie Els, commonly known as the Big Easy, took the CA Championship on Sunday at Doral, Florida. Els hasn't won a tournament in two years, but he came out victorious, ending with 6-under 66 and a 4-shot lead against player #2 in the tournament, Charl Schwartzel, his protégée and houseguest.
Els' nickname comes from the easy way he swings a club, making it look as if no effort has gone into it. But this year's victory didn't come easy. The 40-year-old fought hard for the comeback win, and put himself back at number 8 in the sport. He's now one of only a handful of players in the world to win World Championships more than once, joining the likes of Geoff Ogilvy, Phil Mickelson, Darren Clarke and Tiger Woods.
Charl Schwartzel, the 25-year-old South African who placed number 2, was a member of Els' junior golfing program and has been staying with Els for the last 2 weeks. He was as happy about Els victory as Els was, though he fought for the #1 spot long and hard and didn't give Els any reason to think it was going to be easy to beat him. He ended the tourney at 18-under 270, giving him a top score for the 61st time, and marking his 17th appearance in a PGA event.
Els was only ahead by one by the time he'd reached the 14th hole. He faced a par putt 25-feet away from the hole, which is the kind of shot he hasn't been good at landing over the last 2 years. But this time Els sank the putt, and managed not to bogey at all for the rest of the round. He admits that sinking #14 gave him the confidence boost he needed.
Schwartzel, only one shot behind, got his ball into a bunker on hole 15 and then hit another bunker returning it back for a bogey. Two more putting misses in a row left him at number 2. He credits his mentor for playing flawless golf and says that he played well and was on Els' heels the whole time. He's long considered Els a hero of his, and ironically was the only player in this tournament that even challenged the leader.
Els played with Schwartzel's father, even winning a doubles championship with him, and Schwartzel has looked up to him his entire life, later joining the Els & Fancourt Foundation team for teenagers and traveling with them to play golf. It's ironic that these two with such a history together, and with Schwartzel even staying with Els for a couple of weeks, dominated the top of leaderboard.
Things didn't look good for Els from the beginning after he shot the ball into a bunker on the first hole and still managed to birdie. Schwartzel birdied his second hole, and then Else managed two more consecutively. A bogey on Number 5 put Schwartzel behind by 3 shots, but he caught up with more consecutive birdies, and didn't slip again until the 15th hole.
Padraig Harrington tied for 3rd place with Martin Kaymer and Matt Kuchar. Alistair Presnell managed the best round on Sunday but ended in a tie for 6th place. Top golfer Phil Mickelson never offered Els a challenge and tied in 14th place.
Photo Credits: shareski
Related Posts -
BMW Championship Preview The BMW Championships are coming up this week, and are slated to be played at Cog Hill. Here are five all star players that you should be paying attention to as the FedEx Cup playoffs continue this upcoming week. As we finished up the Deutsche Bank Championship this week, all...... -
Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands This week in golf was relatively slow, following the incredible finish of last week’s U.S Open. This week’s tournament was the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. The tournament featured some big names, including Bubba Watson, Scott Verplank, Rickie Fowler, Ricky Barnes, Vijay Singh, Justin Rose, Padraig...... -
McIlroy Wins at Quail Hollow; Tiger Out Quail Hollow turned out to be a proving ground for a young golfer, and a stumbling block for the top one. Rory McIlroy has become the youngest winner on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods. And Tiger, in his second tournament since his comeback at the Masters 3 weeks ago,...... -
Kim Wins Houston Open Anthony Kim won the Houston Open on Sunday, marking his third PGA win. The tournament went into a playoff, matching Kim against Vaughn Taylor who, thanks to this loss, will miss out on the Masters this year. The regular tournament play ended with both men at 12-under 276. Kim...... -
Crane Wins Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego Ben Crane won by one stroke at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego at Torrey Pines over the weekend. During the tourney, Crane managed to sink two birdie putts that each stretched over 45 feet, and ended the day with a 30-inch par putt that gave him the victory......
Related Websites -
Thanks to Roddick Everyone Wins at China Open This weekendâs China Open was a competitive test of skills for the players that participated and although Andy Roddick won, at the end of the day, it was the people affected by the earthquake early this year that took home the gold. As a gesture of goodwill, Roddick donated $25,000...... -
ATP World Tour Finals: Nikolay Davydenko, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro At the ATP World Finals, Roger Federer is now ranked 1 in the sport for the 5th time. He's one away from tying Pete Sampras' record of 6 number one spots. He won that trophy at the ATP World Tour Finals in London at the O2 Arena on Wednesday, but...... -
Jeremy Chardy Wins Mercedes Cup Between the 13th of July and the 19th of July, the Mercedes Cup was held. This ATP World Tour event was held in Stuttgart Germany on a clay surface. Here are the results for Sunday, the 19th of July, 2009: Singles Final Results: J Chardy of FRA defeated V Hnescu...... -
Murray Injured, Novak Djokovic Takes No. 3 Andy Murray has withdrawn out of tournaments including the upcoming Shanghai Masters tournament as a result of an injured wrist. He is missing the event as a result of an ongoing injury to his wrist. This news is coming following the decision by Roger Federer to miss the same event...... -
French Open: Tennis Tournament Recap The French Open tennis tournament is billed to be the most challenging out of all of the grand slam tournaments, and the 2009 French Open Tournament is slated to adhere to the same rigorous competitive nature of all of the French Open tournaments that preceded it. The 2009 French Open......
- Ball-Jointed Dolls Dollfie & BJDs By Brand, Company, Character Dolls Dolls & Bears
- Srizon Golf Balls Golf
- New Golf Balls Golf
- Ping New Golf Balls Golf
- Pro V1 Titleist New Golf Balls Golf
Categories:
ernie els, Golf Ball Driver, Golf News, Golf Tournaments
Tags:
0 comments ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment