MIAMI (Florida), March 4: Ernie Els, who began the final round with a commanding eight-stroke lead, withstood a charge from Tiger Woods to win the $4.7 million Genuity Championship by two shots from the world number one Sunday.

Australian Peter Lonard finished third, six shots back, and 1999 Kemper Open champion Rich Beem took fourth place, eight shots behind Els at the Doral Golf Resort and Spa.

The 32-year-old South African recorded a closing level-par 72 for a total of 271, 17 under.

It turned into a tale of two nines for Woods, who fired a 66 for 273, and world No. 5 Els. What looked like an impossible margin to overcome withered after Woods opened his round with three consecutive birdies.

Els began with a birdie but bogeys at the second and sixth suddenly made him appear vulnerable. Woods’s 12-foot birdie putt on the ninth then cut the lead to three strokes.

Woods, on the other hand, did everything he wanted to do on the front nine.

The back nine proved a struggle for both players. Woods birdied both par fives, the 10th and 12th, to chop the lead to a single stroke before Els went two shots clear with a birdie on the 12th.

Both players had chances down the stretch — Els to add to his lead and Woods to cut into it — but neither could sink putts when they needed to and Els remained two ahead until the end.

Woods’s last chance came and went when he missed a 15-footer for a birdie at the 18th that would have narrowed the lead to one.

Els wanted to start the round better, but the pressure from Woods making a move in the group ahead made what should have been an easy day a very long one.

Leading final round scores (US unless stated):

271 — Ernie Els (South Africa) 66, 67, 66, 72.

273 — Tiger Woods 67, 70, 70, 66.

277 — Peter Lonard (Australia) 70, 67, 70, 70.

279 — Rich Beem 69, 68, 72, 70.

280 — Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 69, 69, 75, 67; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 72, 70, 71, 67; Steve Elkington (Australia) 67, 71, 74, 68; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 66, 73, 70, 71; Craig Perks (New Zealand) 71, 68, 70, 71.

281 — Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 71, 67, 72, 71.

282 — Pat Perez 69, 69, 75, 69; Paul Azinger 69, 72, 71, 70; Justin Leonard 67, 70, 72, 73.

283 — Craig Parry (Australia) 68, 72, 71, 72; Fred Funk 68, 72, 71, 72.

284 — Steve Stricker 71, 72, 73, 68; David Toms 67, 74, 75, 68; Mike Weir (Canada) 70, 71, 73, 70; Briny Baird 69, 66, 78, 71; Len Mattiace 70, 69, 74, 71; Ian Leggatt (Canada) 71, 67, 73, 73; Tom Scherrer 71, 71, 69, 73; Steve Allan (Australia) 66, 73, 71, 74.

Other international players

285 — Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 67, 72, 74, 72.

286 — Greg Norman (Australia) 71, 73, 71, 71; Luke Donald (Britain) 68, 75, 72, 71; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 73, 70, 71, 72; Paul Gow (Australia) 73, 69, 71, 73; Stuart Appleby (Australia) 68, 70, 73, 75.

287 — Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 78, 65, 76, 68; Stephen Ames (Canada) 70, 74, 72, 71.

288 — Brian Watts (Canada) 69, 73, 74, 72; Grant Waite (New Zealand) 72, 68, 75, 73.

290 — Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 69, 73, 72, 76.

292 — Rod Pampling (Australia) 74, 70, 76, 72; Greg Chalmers (Australia) 69, 71, 78, 74.

294 — Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden) 69, 75, 75, 75.—Reuters