World number three Ernie Els duly wrapped up an emphatic victory at the
BMW Asian Open in Shanghai.
The South African took an eight-shot lead into the delayed final day, after
the threat of lightning at Tomson Golf Club forced the players off the course
yesterday, and drew even further clear of the chasing pack.
He returned on Monday morning to land a birdie putt at the seventh hole and went on
to add three more birdies to close with a seven-under-par 65 and finish on 26
under for the tournament.
The 35-year-old, chasing a hat-trick of Volvo Order of Merit titles, gained
his third win of the season and his 21st victory on the European Tour.
An amazing 13 shots back in second was England's Simon Wakefield after a
closing 73 while Denmark's Thomas Bjorn was another shot back in third after a
72.
Tied for fourth on 10 under were New Zealand's Eddie Lee and Jean-Francois
Lucquin of France.
English pair Luke Donald and Stuart Little shared sixth on nine under, the
latter firing a final-round 66.
Els said: "I am obviously very, very happy and it was a very good week.
"The 62 (in the second round) was obviously the key to the victory, but in
the same breath in the last two rounds I had to play really steady and not make
any big mistakes and try and play aggressive where I could.
"It all worked out. I am very pleased, but it is just unfortunate that we
could not finish yesterday."
On holding such a big advantage entering his delayed final 12 holes, Els
added: "You just prepare like you prepare every other day. Try not to think
about the lead and think about where you want to go.
"You do not want to get too far ahead of yourself and you just want to stay
in the moment and try and hit the shots when it counts.
"I have been around for quite a few years. I have had big leads and had a few
big wins in my career, so I had a bit of experience to draw from.
"It looks good on paper but when you go to sleep on a lead you always have
some negative thoughts. You need to get rid of those and try and stay
positive."
Collated final-round scores & totals (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
262 Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 62 68 65
275 Simon Wakefield 67 69 66 73
276 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 65 68 72
278 Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 70 66 69 73, Eddie Lee (Nzl) 67 66 73 72
279 Stuart Little 71 70 72 66, Luke Donald 70 69 68 72
280 James Kingston (Rsa) 70 71 69 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 70 68 73
281 Edward Michaels (USA) 74 69 67 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 69 70 70, Jeev
Milkha Singh (Ind) 69 68 70 74, David Park 70 69 71 71
282 Simon Dyson 70 74 66 72, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 71 69 72
283 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 70 68 72 73, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 74 67 72,
Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 67 75 74, Joong Kyung Mo (Kor) 73 68 70 72
284 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 70 69 73 72, Niki Zitny (Aut) 75 69 71 69, Wade
Ormsby (Aus) 72 67 71 74, Jason Knutzon (USA) 71 72 71 70, Anthony Wall 71 69 72
72, Mark Foster 70 72 70 72, Kenneth Ferrie 72 68 74 70, Adam Groom (Aus) 72 71
69 72
285 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 73 69 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 72 70
71 72, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 67 69 72 77
286 Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 69 71 77, Colin Montgomerie 73 70 73 70, Greg
Hanrahan (USA) 72 72 67 75, Peter Hanson (Swe) 73 69 70 74, Peter Lawrie 67 70
71 78, Larry Austin (Aus) 67 72 73 74, Christopher Hanell (Swe) 70 73 74 69,
Terry Price (Aus) 74 70 69 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 73 71 69 73, Miles
Tunnicliff 72 70 73 71
287 Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 72 70 71 74, David Bransdon (Aus) 71 70 70 76, Philip
Golding 74 70 71 72, Marcus Both (Aus) 70 72 70 75, Peter Fowler (Aus) 71 70 71
75
288 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 73 71 70 74, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 69 72 73, Wen-Tang
Lin (Tai) 72 72 71 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 72 70 76, Alastair Forsyth 72 70
75 71, Oliver Wilson 71 70 75 72, 289 Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 72 70 74 73, Ross
Bain 72 68 74 75, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 70 71 72 76, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 71 71
74, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 71 71 75 72
290 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 71 70 78, Thavorn Wiratchant (Tha) 74 69 68 79,
Nick Dougherty 71 72 70 77, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 74 73 73, Kim Felton (Aus)
70 72 74 74, Ted Oh (Kor) 71 73 71 75, Edward Loar (USA) 72 68 74 76, Carlos
Rodiles (Spa) 69 71 74 76
291 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 75 69 73 74, Costantino Rocca (Ita) 74 68 71 78, Prom
Meesawat (Tha) 71 72 70 78
292 Jason Dawes (Aus)73 71 74 74
293 Ben Mason 76 67 72 78, Nick Faldo 72 70 73 78, James Heath 73 70 73 77,
Anthony Kang (USA) 72 68 75 78
296 Bryan Saltus (USA) 73 71 72 80
298 Paul Casey 73 71 78 76
301 Sung-Man Lee (USA) 70 74 75 82
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