Ernie Els won a fourth Major Championship with his one stroke victory over the hapless Australian, Adam Scott.
Here is a selection of the headlines from some of the world’s newspapers following Ernie’s success at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Sydney Morning Herald – “Nerves were not a factor in failure of Lytham test.”
EVEN as the magnitude of his capitulation was still sinking in, Adam Scott was aware his calamitous four-bogey finish to the British Open would be considered one of the most ignominious collapses in major championship history.
”You can compare it, sure,” said Scott of the overtones his performance had with that of his friend, and boyhood idol, Greg Norman who gave up a six-shot lead in the final round of the 1996 US Masters.
Daily Record (UK) – ” Ernie Els apologises to devastated Adam Scott after final day drama at St Anne’s.”
ERNIE ELS said sorry to Adam Scott for breaking his heart by denying the distraught Aussie an Open triumph.
But the South African helped comfort his devastated rival by insisting Scott will one day overtake his haul of four wins in the Major championships.
Els won his second Open in dramatic fashion at Royal Lytham after a staggering late collapse from the devastated Scott saw him lose by one agonising stroke and miss winning his first Major.
With just four holes of the Championship remaining, the 42-year-old was four shots behind his younger rival.
But as the veteran turned up the pressure in a remarkable, tension-packed finish, Scott fell apart and bogeyed the last four holes to blow his chance in eye-watering fashion.
Ernie Els admires the Claret Jug. (Photo - Courtesy R & A).
The Telegraph (UK) – “Ernie Els wins The Open 2012 as Adam Scott collapses at Royal Lytham with four bogeys in last four shots.”
Ernie Els must have believed Lytham owed him an Open Championship, but not even the big South African would have dreamt the old links would have delivered it to him so dramatically with one of the biggest chokes in golf history.
Poor, poor Adam Scott. The Australian has joined Jean Van de Velde and, dare we whisper it, Scott’s hero Greg Norman, as the kings of golfing calamity. As natural as it was to feel deep joy for Els, the veteran who many had give up on after 10 barren years, it was easier to feel intense sympathy for Scott.
With four holes to go he was four ahead and 1-50 with the bookies. The inscriber was in full scrape. Four bogeys later, Scott was in total and merciless ignominy. The pain was apparent when he walked off the green, but he quickly composed himself and displayed an upper-lip so tight he would have made an old officer proud. No tears, just cheers for Els. But this will hurt when it sinks in. It simply has to.
The Times – Picayune (New Orleans) – “Ernie Els again has that winning feeling, another British Open.”
Golf. What a game. Ernie Els has seen both sides of it. As the sun rose Sunday, Els had won three major championships, a couple of U.S. Opens, in 1994 and 1997, and a British Open in 2002. The record also showed Els had finished second in six majors.
Well, on Sunday, “Big Easy” Ernie won his fourth major, the 2012 British Open.
He won it as Adam Scott watched a 7-foot putt roll past the cup on No. 18 to hand Els a second claret jug.
Daily Mail (UK) – “Easy does it as Scott cracks: Els wins with a late charge after Aussie crumbles like Norman”.
This was Greg Norman at the Masters in 1996 all over again. This was truly heart-wrenching for anyone with Australian blood and for Adam Scott’s English relatives who once had a home at the far end of Royal Lytham, overlooking the ninth green.
A championship the 32-year-old from Adelaide had held in the palm of his hand for most of the afternoon slipped inexorably from his grasp in the final hour.
How does the poor soul come back from this, from four successive bogeys to finish and a place on the wall of Open infamy? He thought he would be alongside Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle, Norman and Ian Baker-Finch, the other Aussie winners of this event. Instead he finds himself alongside Jean van de Velde and Doug Sanders.
Irish Independent – “Open Championship: The human story behind Ernie Els dramatic last gasp victory at Royal Lytham.”
THERE was a real human story behind the golfing one as Ernie Els became Open champion again at Royal Lytham.
Between his two victories 10 years apart Els and his wife Liezl have become major fund-raisers after the discovery when he was seven that their son Ben has autism.
Newsday (USA) – “Ernie Els wins British Open as Adam Scott collapses.”
Adam Scott cried the day Greg Norman blew the Masters. It was 1996 and Scott was a teenager in Australia who idolized Norman.
Now, in another major tournament on another continent, Scott shared the same fate as his hero. And a sympathetic Ernie Els took advantage.
So the question of this 141st British Open, which came to an almost surrealistic ending Sunday on the Lancashire coast, was did Els win it — he was there holding the historic claret jug on which his name was etched second time — or did Scott lose it? Blow it would be the crueler definition.
New York Post – “Scott bogeys final four holes to give Els second British Open title.”
If the Open Championship has taught us anything during its 141 years, it is that you never know.
Adam Scott thought he knew his destiny yesterday, effortlessly cruising around Royal Lytham with a fat four-shot lead with four holes to play. All that remained was the coronation on the 72nd hole celebrating his first career major championship victory.
But Scott didn’t know. Nor did Ernie Els.
The way Scott was playing, how could either have known?
Orlando Sentinel – “Adam Scott’s collapse hands British crown to Ernie Els.”
Ernie Els doffed his cap to the cheering fans when his putt fell at Royal Lytham & St. Annes’ 18th hole, doing a little half-pirouette in delight at a strong British Open finish.
The Hall of Famer accepted congratulations, signed his card and strolled over to the putting green to await the inevitable letdown.
The playoff never came.
Ernie Els is Champion Golfer of the Year.
The Scotsman – “The Open: Ernie Els fights back to claim incredible victory as ‘sloppy’ Adam Scott implodes.”
ERNIE Els claimed his second Claret Jug after capitalising on a dramatic meltdown from Australian Adam Scott in the closing stages of the 141st Open Championship in Lancashire.
Six behind the leader with nine holes to play, Els stormed home in four-under, holing a 12-footer at the last with his belly putter for a closing 68 and a seven-under-par total of 273.
It looked good enough for the 2002 winner to claim second spot at best until Scott, bidding to make it ten first-time major winners in a row, blew a four-shot lead with four holes to play.
The Guardian (UK) – “Ernie Els stuns Adam Scott in amazing finish.”
Adam Scott came into the final day of the Open Championship seeking to etch an indelible mark in golfing history. He did precisely that but not in the way he had intended.
Sometimes, sport’s greatest events are destined to be associated with those who lose rather than those who walk off with the biggest prize. The Open of 2009 is better remembered for Tom Watson’s failure to win rather than Stewart Cink’s victory. Paul Lawrie’s success at Carnoustie 10 years earlier will forever be famous for the collapse of Jean van de Velde. When people reflect on this, the 141st Open, they will instantly point towards Scott’s ruinous finish.
South African Press Association – “It slipped through my fingers.”
As a teenager back home in Australia, Adam Scott was shocked to watch Greg Norman’s infamous 1996 Masters meltdown to Nick Faldo on television – now he knows how it feels.
The 32-year-old had a four-stroke lead with four holes to play in the British Open and looked to be coasting towards what would have been his first major title only for disaster to strike.
He failed to get up and down out of a pot bunker at the 15th and missed a three-footer for par at the next. At the same time, a charging Ernie Els was sinking a 15-footer for a birdie at Royal Lytham’s arena-like 18th hole.
