1997 - ERNIE SHADES IT FROM MONTY

By Mark Garrod, Press Association Golf Reporter

South African Ernie Els left Colin Montgomerie the nearly man again tonight, after a thrilling finish to the US Open in Washington.

With President Clinton and his daughter Chelsea in the Father's Day crowd at Congressional, Els denied Montgomerie his first major title just as he did three years ago.

On that occasion it was after a play-off. This time a bogey at the penultimate hole resulted in the 33-year-old Scot, trying to become the first European winner of the title since Tony Jacklin in 1970, falling one shot shy.

Montgomerie, also beaten in a play-off for the 1995 US PGA championship by Australian Steve Elkington, shot a closing 69 - but so did Els, after sinking a four-foot second putt on the final green.

The 27-year-old from Johannesburg lifted his second US Open - he has had seven other top 10 finishes in the Majors - with a four-under-par total of 276.

The victory was worth £283,536, but the money was immaterial.

With the arrival of Tiger Woods, Els, who was acclaimed as ``the next God'' when he won at Oakmont in 1994, has been in the shadows.

But this week Woods finished just 19th, his Grand Slam bid over long before a closing 72.

Montgomerie had bogeyed the 480-yard par four 17th in each of the first three rounds and he will not remember the hole fondly.

When it mattered most he pushed his 203-yard approach into some of the course's dense rough.

His chip was good, to six feet, but after making so many putts earlier in the day this one rolled by the edge.

He and Els had been level on the tee, but Els, who also beat Montgomerie in the final of the 1994 World Match Play, hit a scorching second shot to 15 feet.

He did not make the birdie putt, but the par left him one in front.

That set the stage for the dramatic 190-yard last, the first time a par three has finished the US Open since 1909.

Els ignored the flag set close to the lake and found the heart of the green 40 feet away.

Montgomerie was only 10 feet closer and after Els had rolled his first putt four feet past Montgomerie's to tie just missed.

Then Els made his return putt and punched the air, although it was not quite over.

Behind them American Tom Lehman, who shared the lead with three to go, had bogeyed the 16th and 17th, first by going in the rough and then by hooking into the lake.

It left him needing a hole-in-one. What a grandstand finish to set before a President that would have been, but Lehman finished 15 feet away and had to settle for third place on two under 278 after a 73.

He, Montgomerie and Els were the only three under par.

After going to the turn in 33 in his final round Montgomerie, scrambling spectacularly, was sharing the lead with Els, Lehman and Jeff Maggert, who fell away to one over and fourth place over the closing stretch.

Their days had actually begun at 7am when he was among 21 players back at Congressional to finish off his third round.

He bogeyed the 17th, but then made a 25-footer for a 67, the best of the round, and a two under aggregate of 208.

The Scot was three behind Lehman at that point the British Open champion had birdies at the 14th and 18th for a 68 but seven hours later when he began his final 18 holes he immediately started eating into that.

Lehman was himself attempting to become the first man to hold both the US and British Open trophies at the same time since Tom Watson won both in 1982, but it was not to be.

Before he set off in the final round Montgomerie said: ``I like my position now.

"I won Sun City (the Million Dollar Challenge last December) from two behind.

"All eyes are not on you all the time.''

It was Els he beat in a play-off at Sun City, but the main memory he had of the talented Johannesburg golfer was of their Oakmont play-off three years ago and Els won their private duel again and left Montgomerie in tears.

Worksop's Lee Westwood, meanwhile, birdied two of the last three holes for a 71 and six-over aggregate.

After finishing 24th in his first Masters appearance the 24-year-old shared 19th place with Woods on his US Open debut.

It was all helping his bid for a Ryder Cup debut. He currently lies seventh in the table, but fifth and sixth-placed Miguel Angel Martin and Per-Ulrik Johansson were not playing this week.

Ulsterman Darren Clarke, third in the table, finished on 10 over with a 70, but eighth-placed Thomas Bjorn missed a chance to improve his chances by taking 79 for 18 over.

Midlander Paul Broadhurst, 10th in the standings, shot 75 for 13 over and 20th placed Andrew Coltart slumped to 20 over with a 79.

Faldo did not help captain Seve Ballesteros much.

He went into the event 23rd in the table and his last day slump made it more likely that he would need a wild card.

Final collated totals and major prize money (USA unless stated)(x) denotes amateurs

276 E Els (Rsa) 71 67 69 69 (£283,536)

277 C Montgomerie (Gbr) 65 76 67 69 (£167,682)

278 T Lehman 67 70 68 73 (£105,382)

281 J Maggert 73 66 68 74 (£73,447)

282 B Tway 71 71 70 70 (£48,704), O Browne 71 71 69 71 (£48,704), J Furyk 74 68 69 71 (£48,704), T Tolles 74 67 69 72 (£48,704), J Haas 73 69 68 72(£48,704)

283 S McCarron 73 71 69 70 (#34,724), S Hoch 71 68 72 72 (£34,724), D Ogrin 70 69 71 73 (£34,724)

284 L Roberts 72 69 72 71 (£28,870), S Cink 71 67 74 72 (£28,870), B Andrade 75 67 69 73 (£28,870)

285 B Hughes (Aus) 75 70 71 69 (£24,442), J M Olazabal (Spa) 71 71 72 71 (£24,442), D Love 75 70 69 71 (£24,442)

286 N Price (Zim) 71 74 71 70, L Westwood (Gbr) 71 71 73 71, T Woods 74 67 73 72, P Stankowski 75 70 68 73, H Sutton 66 73 73 74

287 L Mattiace 71 75 73 68, E Fryatt (Gbr) 72 73 73 69, S Dunlap 75 66 75 71, S Elkington (Aus) 75 68 72 72

288 P Goydos 73 72 74 69, P Azinger 72 72 74 70, P Stewart 71 73 73 71, M McNulty (Zim) 67 73 75 73, H Kase (Jpn) 68 73 73 74, F Zoeller 72 73 69 74, K Gibson 72 69 72 75, J Sluman 69 72 72 75

289 J Leonard 69 72 78 70, G Waite (Nzl) 72 74 72 71, M O'Meara 73 73 71 72, S Stricker 66 76 75 72, S Appleby (Aus) 71 75 70 73, F Nobilo (Nzl) 71 74 70 74, J Cook 72 71 71 75

290 D Clarke (Gbr) 73 74 73 70, P Mickelson 75 68 73 74, D Duval 74 72 70 74, F Funk 73 70 72 75, C Perry 70 73 71 76, C Parry (Aus) 70 74 69 77

291 J Parnevik (Swe) 72 75 73 71, N Faldo (Gbr) 72 74 69 76

292 D White 70 72 73 77

293 L Janzen 72 73 75 73, H Irwin 70 73 76 74, J Nicklaus 73 71 75 74, F Couples 75 72 72 74, P Teravainen 71 73 74 75, P Broadhurst (Gbr) 77 69 72 75

294 L Mize 70 74 76 74, C Rose 72 71 73 78

295 C Smith 77 69 74 75, D Waldorf 72 74 73 76, R Butcher 70 73 74 78, S Jones 72 75 69 79

297 D Schreyer 78 73 72 74, B Crenshaw 73 74 76 74, B Faxon 72 74 76 75, T Watson 72 74 72 79

298 M Hulbert 73 73 77 75, G Kraft 77 69 76 76, J Morse 71 74 76 77, S Ames (Tri) 73 73 75 77, T Kite 75 69 82 72, T Bjorn (Den) 71 75 73 79

299 J Green 75 72 79 73

300 R Wylie 71 76 77 76, A Coltart (Gbr) 74 71 76 79

301 V Singh (Fiji) 77 71 76 77, P Parker 75 71 77 78, D Hammond 75 71 76 79, G Towne 71 73 83 74, D Mast 73 69 83 76<303 J Ferenz 72 75 80 76

304 M Dawson 75 71 80 78

306 S Adams 71 74 78 83