Ernie Els - took Dunhill title (Getty).
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Ernie Els admitted victory in the Dunhill Championship was "like a dream come
true" after winning only his second event back after four months out with a
knee injury.
The world number five won the event for the third time after benefiting from
overnight leader Ulrich van den Berg's disastrous collapse on the back nine.
Els, 36, had an operation on his left knee in the summer after a water sport
accident in July and was advised to rest this week after playing in the Nedbank
Golf Challenge.
He began the day two off the lead but carded a four-under-par 68 to finish 14
under and win by three from fellow South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and last
year's champion Charl Schwartzel.
Van den Berg, playing alongside the three-time major winner, led by three at
the turn but came home in 44 to throw away his chance of a maiden victory on the
European Tour as Els used his experience to the full.
"A week ago I would have been happy just to have broken 80 because of my
knee," said Els, who is a member of the Leopard Creek Country Club and has a
house on the estate.
"I felt I played consistently well this week, especially today, and I never
really played any risky shots.
"To win so soon after coming back to tournament golf is like a dream come
true."
Els was typically gracious in victory, adding: "I feel for Ulrich, He had a
great round going there and he just fell short at the end. But he is a hell of a
player and a good gentleman."
Van den Berg had four birdies in his opening six holes compared to his playing
partner's three to extend his lead.
When Els bogeyed the short seventh the gap was four but van den Berg gave one
back at the 476-yard ninth.
That was just the beginning of his problems, however, as he had a triple-bogey
seven at the short par-four 11th after finding trouble off the tee, taking a
penalty drop and then hitting his approach into a bunker before three-putting.
That was followed by another dropped shot at the 192-yard next and Els seized
his opportunity.
He birdied the 13th and 15th, both par fives, to go two ahead at 14 under and
a van den Berg double-bogey - after going in water at the par-three 16th -
virtually sealed the issue.
To compound matters van den Berg three-putted the 17th to put Els on easy
street heading down the last.
Van den Berg eventually finished six shots back on eight under after a
three-over round of 75, which was still good enough for a share of third with
compatriot Bobby Lincoln and England's David Lynn - the leading non-South
African.
The Stoke golfer, who had to cope with numb fingers after being stung by a
scorpion on Friday night, shot a closing 68 which included six birdies and two
bogeys, to leap up the leaderboard from joint 20th overnight.
Collated final-round scores and totals (Rsa unless stated, par 72):
274 Ernie Els 71 67 68 68
277 Charl Schwartzel 70 67 70 70, Louis Oosthuizen 69 67 71 70
280 Bobby Lincoln 72 70 73 65, Ulrich Van Den Berg 70 69 65 76, Trevor
Immelman 69 69 74 68, David Lynn (Eng) 73 68 71 68
281 Alan Michell 70 68 71 72, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 70 73 68, Sean Farrell
(Zim) 69 68 73 71, Jaco Van Zyl 68 71 69 73
282 Titch Moore 68 68 73 73, Phillip Archer (Eng) 66 70 74 72, Thomas Aiken 69
71 73 69
283 Richard Finch (Eng) 73 68 71 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 74 69 69 71, Johan
Edfors (Swe) 68 73 72 70
284 Keith Horne 73 71 65 75, Ariel Canete (Arg) 72 69 71 72, Doug McGuigan
(Sco) 68 69 72 75, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 71 71 71 71, Ross Wellington 72 68 76 68,
Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 73 72 65 74
285 Gary Clark (Eng) 69 73 74 69, Gary Murphy (Irl) 71 69 77 68, Miguel
Carballo (Arg) 70 75 69 71
286 Richard Sterne 72 71 73 70, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 67 73 73, Martin
Maritz 71 73 69 73, Michiel Bothma 64 71 78 73, James Kingston 70 67 73 76,
Brandon Pieters 70 74 73 69, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 73 73 73, Jonathan Lomas
(Eng) 72 67 72 75, Damien McGrane (Irl) 70 70 76 70
287 Steve Van Vuuren 72 72 73 70, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 71 73 71, Tjaart Van
der Walt 72 70 73 72, David Carter (Eng) 69 73 74 71, Grant Veenstra 69 68 74
76, Leif Westerberg (Swe) 70 73 71 73, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 71 71 74 71,
Stephen Scahill (Nzl) 72 66 73 76, Michael Lamb (Zim) 73 72 67 75
288 Tyrone Van Aswegen 70 75 70 73, Nic Henning 70 67 80 71, Christian Nilsson
(Swe) 68 71 70 79, Felipe Aguilar (Col) 71 70 71 76, Garry Houston (Wal) 74 69
70 75, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 71 76 70
289 Tuomas Tuovinen (Fij) 68 74 72 75
290 Matthew Richardson (Eng) 74 68 75 73, Oliver Whiteley (Eng) 73 69 71 77,
Magnus P Atlevi (Swe) 70 73 73 74
291 Patrick O'Brien 70 70 75 76, Ross Fisher (Eng) 68 72 71 80
292 Sam Walker (Eng) 71 74 74 73, Ben Willman (Eng) 71 71 74 76, Gregory
Havret (Fra) 71 70 70 81
294 Brett Liddle 78 67 73 76, Justin Walters 71 69 75 79, Jason Kelly 73 70 79
72, Anton Haig 79 66 80 69, Hennie Otto 76 68 72 78, Mike Michell 71 72 76 75,
Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 72 73 73 76
295 Johan Kok 69 74 73 79, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 73 71 72 79
296 Toni Karjalainen (Fij) 69 72 81 74, Nico Van Rensburg 72 72 76 76, Anders
Sjostrand (Swe) 75 67 73 81, Thabang Simon 71 72 75 78, Jean Hugo 67 74 74 81
297 Darren Fichardt 71 73 76 77, Francis Valera (Spa) 72 71 76 78
301 Neil Cheetham (Eng) 73 70 80 78
302 Phil Worthington (Eng) 73 71 77 81
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