Ernie Els had his second worst score in nearly 450 rounds on the US Tour as American Scott McCarron won the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta.

On the eve of the Masters, world number three Els posted rounds of 81 and 73 as the £2million event crammed in 36 holes to make up for the loss of Thursday's play to rain.

"That tested my patience to the limit," said the South African, his confidence battered again by the wind after three weeks in which he has broken 70 only once.

Els finished the tournament on the seven-over-par total of 295 and, while he flew back to Orlando for a day's rest before turning his attentions to Augusta, McCarron collected the £427,000 title for the second time in five years.

Not in the Masters field this time - Augusta National have controversially dropped the rule whereby all US Tour winners qualify - McCarron needed only to shoot 72 and 73 to cruise home.

His eight-under-par total of 280 left him three ahead of Canadian left-hander Mike Weir. Defending champion Phil Mickelson was in a group a stroke further back.

A Saturday 67 had given Els a real boost to his morale, but that was all undone in the windswept conditions when he teed off again at just after 8am.

"It was 40 degrees and I never got warmed up - hey, that's my excuse," he commented, managing a smile. "Are we in Siberia?

"I never got into a rhythm and went from bad to worse. Now I've got to learn from it.

"I thought I had things all worked out (he has changed his grip in the last week), but man, I don't think I've ever had a tougher time selecting clubs.

"But it's only Sunday and the Masters is not until Thursday."

His only higher round in America was an 84 in the 1993 Honda Classic.

McCarron, two ahead after the third round, held a six-stroke lead with seven to play, but bogeyed the 12th, 13th and 15th to see it cut to two.

Then, however, came a 30-foot birdie putt on the short 16th and he safely parred the last two.

The conditions blew Swede Pierre Fulke, Europe's leading money-winner this season, to rounds of 78 and 77 on his US Tour debut and at eight over he was one of the few players to finish behind Els.

Jesper Parnevik finished on one over and Jose Maria Olazabal, the only other European to survive the halfway cut, closed with a disappointing 77 for three over.

At the start of the concluding 18 holes it was still touch-and-go whether the last few groups would finish before nightfall. Their third round took five-and-a-half hours and their fourth round tee-off time had to be put back 40 minutes.

Then, however, there seemed a concerted effort from the whole field to get done rather than return in the morning. And they just succeeded.

South African Retief Goosen managed only two of the 36 holes before retiring with a chest muscle injury.

One under par at halfway, he suffered the injury on the driving range and was really struggling as he bogeyed the first and parred the second.

On teeing off from the third he let out a yell and, with the Masters so imminent, decided to return to the clubhouse for treatment.

Collated final totals in the BellSouth Classic at TPC at Sugarloaf, Atlanta, Georgia (USA unless stated, par 72):

280 S McCarron 68 67 72 73 (£427,000)

283 M Weir (Can) 76 67 73 67 (£256,000)

284 C Smith 73 70 72 69, D Paulson 72 65 72 75, P Mickelson 70 66 73 75

285 M Goggin (Aus) 69 73 69 74, S Cink 70 71 71 73, J Sindelar 73 70 72 70, C Howell 70 68 74 73, C DiMarco 68 67 73 77

286 D Love 70 71 71 74, B Jobe 68 74 73 71, S Kendall 74 67 73 72, S Dunlap 74 65 75 72, J Kelly 69 69 72 76, S Micheel 72 71 70 73

287 H Frazar 73 68 73 73, D Toms 69 69 74 75

288 KJ Choi 72 70 69 77, S Flesch 68 75 71 74

289 J Parnevik (Swe) 72 71 75 71, B Mayfair 70 70 74 75, J Brehaut 70 68 78 73, B Burns 73 70 73 73

290 G Nicklaus 73 69 76 72, M Sposa 69 70 77 74

291 S Maruyama (Jpn) 69 73 75 74, S Simpson 73 69 73 76, C Parry (Aus) 71 70 74 76, D Barron 74 67 73 77, J Daly 69 71 76 75, G Norman (Aus) 73 67 76 75, JM Olazabal (Spn) 73 70 71 77

292 M Hensby (Aus) 69 72 73 78, A McLardy (Rsa) 71 70 78 73, K Grunewald 71 71 75 75, M Dawson 67 72 79 74, T Pernice 73 70 75 74, K Yokoo (Jpn) 68 69 77 78

293 B Tway 72 70 74 77, B Hughes (Aus) 73 70 75 75, F Lickliter 70 68 72 83

294 B McCallister 70 71 78 75

295 E Els (Rsa) 74 67 81 73

296 R Freeman 72 70 74 80

297 P Fulke (Swe) 72 70 78 77, T Tryba 70 69 79 79, M Clark 71 72 80 74

298 R Damron 71 69 79 79, A Magee 73 69 76 80

299 K Johnson 73 70 75 81

301 T Armour 72 67 84 78

Withdrew: R Goosen (Rsa)