Ernie Els set a 72-hole PGA Tour
scoring record by posting a four-round total of 31-under-par 261 to win the
season-opening Mercedes Championships at Kapalua.
He carded a fourth-round of 67 to pull clear of KJ Choi and clinch victory at
Hawaii's picturesque Plantation Course.
His score was a four-round PGA Tour record in relation to par.
Two years ago, Joe Durant played the first 72 holes of the 90-hole Bob Hope
Chrysler Classic in 29-under.
The third-ranked player in the world, Els went wire-to-wire for his 11th PGA
Tour victory.
The 33-year-old South African had a one-stroke lead with eight holes to play
but finished eight shots ahead of Choi and Rocco Mediate.
Els humbled the winners-only 36-man field during an ideal week for scoring at normally blustery Kapalua and collected the top prize worth £560,000.
He posted the most decisive victory on tour since Mark Calcavecchia won the
2001 Phoenix Open by eight shots.
Ironically, Calcavecchia set the PGA Tour's low-score record in that event
with an aggregate score of 256.
It was a sweet win for Els, the reigning British Open champion, who lost a
play-off to Tiger Woods here in 2000 and finished third the following season.
Choi carded a course-record 11-under 62 on Saturday and began the back nine of
the final round with consecutive birdies.
But he bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes and settled for a share of second at
23-under 269.
A 32-year-old Korean in his third year on tour, Choi won twice last season
including a seven-stroke victory at the Tampa Bay Classic in September.
Mediate matched Jonathan Byrd for the low round of the day with a 63.
Final round scores and totals at the Mercedes — Championship, at Plantation Course, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii (USA unless stated, par 73):.
261 Ernie Els (Rsa) 64 65 65 67
269 KJ Choi (Kor) 67 67 62 73, Rocco Mediate 72 69 65 63
270 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 65 66 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70 67 65
271 Jonathan Byrd 68 69 71 63, Chris Riley 65 70 67 69, Bob Estes 66 66 70 69,
Jim Furyk 64 72 67 68
272 Gene Sauers 65 72 69 66, Jerry Kelly 65 70 67 70
273 Jeff Sluman 72 67 70 64, Kevin Sutherland 71 66 69 67
274 Loren Roberts 68 70 67 69
275 Luke Donald (Gbr) 68 72 69 66
276 Charles Howell III 73 66 67 70
277 Craig Perks (Nzl) 69 71 67 70, Phil Tataurangi 68 70 69 70
278 Chris Smith 69 71 69 69, Justin Leonard 71 68 71 68
279 Dan Forsman 69 71 69 70, JP Hayes 72 67 70 70, Nick Price (Zim) 69 69 75
66
280 Len Mattiace 75 68 69 68
281 Matt Kuchar 70 70 73 68, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 73 66 71, Shigeki Maruyama
(Jpn) 66 72 70 73, Craig Parry (Aus) 71 69 71 70
282 John Rollins 72 72 69 69 , Ian Leggatt 69 67 79 67, Chris DiMarco 70 75 69
68, Spike McRoy 72 71 73 66
283 Bob Burns 71 72 74 66, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 71 69 69
286 Matt Gogel 69 75 73 69
290 Rich Beem 74 71 70 75
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook