|
|
|
| July 22, 2002 | Monday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 11,1423 |
Els annexes British Open
GULLANE (Scotland), July 21: South African Ernie Els won the 131st British Open Championship on Sunday after a sudden-death playoff against Frenchman Thomas Levet.
The two players finished a four-hole playoff on even-par, ahead of Australians Steve Elkington and Stuart Appleby who were eliminated.
The four players finished their four rounds tied on six-under-par totals of 278 at Muirfield, Els after a closing 70, Appleby 65, Elkington 66 and Levet 66.
Twice U.S. Open champion Els, who led the field by two after Saturday’s difficult third round, seemed to have the title firmly in his grasp when he moved three strokes clear with six holes to play.
But the world number three then bogeyed the 14th, double-bogeyed the short 16th and had to birdie the par-five 17th to join the playoff — the third in the last five British Opens.
The 32-year-old Els, whose U.S. Open victories came at Oakmont in 1994 and at Congressional in 1997, gathered five birdies in all — along with a double-bogey and two bogeys — on a calm and sunny day at Muirfield.
Appleby birdied six of the last 10 holes to close with a six-under-par 65 and Elkington, who only just made the second-round cut after opening scores of 71 and 73, picked up five birdies on the day.
Levet, aiming to become the first Frenchman to win the Open title since Arnaud Massy in 1907, booked his place in the playoff by holing a 35-foot putt from just off the green to eagle the 17th.
England’s Gary Evans, who was outright leader at six under earlier in the day, closed with a drama-filled 65 to finish the 72 holes tied for fifth with Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (67) and Japan’s Shigeki Mauyama (68).
Els, who struggled for accuracy off the tee for much of the round, had to survive a few testing moments as the last-day leaderboard fluctuated with regularity.
Having teed off one stroke behind Evans — who was six under at that point after 14 holes — he bogeyed the first hole after pulling his tee shot left into a bunker from where he could only splash out on to the fairway.
His approach into the green left him with a par-saving putt from 20 feet, which he missed, but he regrouped with a par at the next and then birdied the 378-yard third hole after sinking a 20-foot putt.
The South African was frustrated after missing a birdie-putt from just three feet at the par-five fifth but then moved one stroke in front when he sank a birdie-putt from four feet at the 508-yard ninth.
He birdied the par-four 10th after holing a putt from 12 feet and then hit a superb nine-iron approach to 10 feet at the 381-yard 12th to forge three clear of the field.
Els then seemed to set to drop a shot at the par-three 13th when his six-iron off the tee found the first of two pot bunkers guarding the left of the green.
But from a testing lie in a rake mark close to the bunker’s face, the smooth-swinging South African nearly holed out after producing a brilliant sand save for his par.
He dropped at the 14th after finding a fairway bunker off the tee and his lead was cut to just one with Appleby, Elkington Levet all safely in the clubhouse.
But the Els double-bogeyed the par-three 16th after pulling a seven iron to the left of the green, over-running his chip back and finally two-putting.
Having been three ahead with six to play, the big South African was now one shot behind, but he birdied the 546-yard 17th after hitting a good drive and a second-shot approach to 25 feet, and parred the last to join the playoff.
Earlier, Tiger Woods finished his British Open campaign in style with a six-under-par 65.
Chasing his third successive major title of the year, he made the most of Sunday’s benign conditions for an even-par aggregate of 284.
Having begun the day 11 shots off the pace following his worst ever professional round of 81 in Saturday’s dreadful weather, the American fired an eagle and five birdies to vault up the leaderboard.
“I have played well all week and my goal today was to get to even par,” he said. “I think that would have been a very successful tournament and I am very pleased that I have now done that.”
Woods had dropped a shot at the 378-yard third hole where he missed a short putt but hit back with successive birdies at the fifth and sixth and then eagled the 508-yard eighth hole.
Further birdies followed at the par-four 11th, the 191-yard 13th and the par-four 15th as the U.S. Masters and U.S. Open champion completed his eighth British Open with a flourish.
Final round scores:
278 - Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73-70-70-65, Thomas Levet (Fra) 72-66-74-66, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71-73-68-66, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70-66-72-70
279 - Gary Evans (Eng) 72-68-74-65, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69-67-76-67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68-68-75-68
280 - Peter O’Malley (Aus) 72-68-75-65, Scott Hoch (USA) 74-69-71-66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71-68-74-67, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68-70-73-69, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71-69-71-69, Soren Hansen (Den) 68-69-73-70
281 - Davis Love (USA) 71-72-71-67, Nick Price (Zim) 68-70-75-68, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72-72-68-69, Justin Leonard (USA) 71-72-68-70
282 - Bob Estes (USA) 71-70-73-68, Greg Norman (Aus) 71-72-71-68, Duffy Waldorf (USA) 67-69-77-69, Scott McCarron (USA) 71-68-72-71
283 - Chris Riley (USA) 70-71-76-66, Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn) 76-68-72-67, Mark O’Meara (USA) 69-69-77-68, Corey Pavin (USA) 69-70-75-69, David Duval (USA) 72-71-70-70, Justin Rose (Eng) 68-75-68-72
284 - Tiger Woods (USA) 70-68-81-65, Pierre Fulke (Swe) 72-69-78-65, Bradley Dredge (Wal) 70-72-74-68, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72-72-71-69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70-73-71-70, Jerry Kelly (USA) 73-71-70-70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72-72-70-70, Loren Roberts (USA) 74-69-70-71, Des Smyth (Irl) 68-69-74-73
285 - Neal Lancaster (USA) 71-71-76-67, Ian Woosnam (Wal) 72-72-73-68, Darren Clarke (NIr) 72-67-77-69, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 71-70-75-69, Andrew Coltart (Sco) 71-69-74-71, Scott Verplank (USA) 72-68-74-71
286 - Esteban Toledo (Mex) 73-70-75-68, Steve Jones (USA) 68-75-73-70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72-72-71-71, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 67-70-76-73
287 - Paul Eales (Eng) 73-71-76-67, Jeff Maggert (USA) 71-68-80-68, Rocco Mediate (USA) 71-72-74-70
288 - Warren Bennett (Eng) 71-68-82-67, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71-70-77-70, Frederik Andersson (Swe) 74-70-74-70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69-69-78-72, Bob Tway (USA) 70-66-78-74, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 72-68-74-74, Barry Lane (Eng) 74-68-72-74, Ian Garbutt (Eng) 69-70-74-75, Craig Perks (Nzl) 72-70-71-75
289 - Steve Stricker (USA) 69-70-81-69, Stewart Cink (USA) 71-69-80-69, Richard Green (USA) 72-72-75-70, Paul Lawrie (Sco) 70-70-78-71, Nick Faldo (Eng) 73-69-76-71, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 70-73-73-73, Joe Durant (USA) 72-71-73-73
290 - Phil Mickelson (USA) 68-76-76-70, Jarrod Moseley (Aus) 70-73-75-72, Chris Di Marco (USA) 72-69-75-74
291 - Matthew Cort (Eng) 73-71-78-69, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn) 71-73-76-71, Stephen Ames (Tri) 68-70-81-72, Len Mattiace (USA) 68-73-77-73, Jim Carter (USA) 74-70-73-74, Mike Weir (Can) 73-69-74-75
292 - Sandy Lyle (Sco) 68-76-73-75, Chris Smith (USA) 74-69-71-78
293 - Anders Hansen (Den) 71-72-79-71, Roger Wessels (Rsa) 72-71-73-77
294 - David Park (Wal) 73-67-74-80
295 - Lee Janzen (USA) 70-69-84-72, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 74-66-81-74
297 - Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 74-64-84-75
298 - David Toms (USA) 67-75-81-75.—Reuters/AFP
|
|
|
|
