Ernie Els dominated the Heineken Classic over the first 54 holes. That all changed Sunday in about two hours on the front nine at wind-blown Royal Melbourne.
Els, admitting he felt "helpless," saw an eight-stroke lead disappear in nine holes. But the Big Easy recovered for a closing 2-over 74 to beat Australian Adam Scott by one shot and win his third straight Classic.
Opening with a career-best 60, Els led by four shots after the first round, seven following the second and by eight after Saturday.
But that lead was gone by midway through Sunday's final round in the swirling winds and 38C temperatures around historic Royal Melbourne.
Els made the turn in 6-over 42 -- including four bogeys and a triple bogey -- and Scott caught Els on the ninth after a 2-under 34. But four birdies in five holes on his bogey-free back nine helped Els retake the lead for good.
"It was unbelievable," said Els. "It's like you are feeling a little bit helpless out there. The golf course is playing tougher, the winds are gusting and you just can't play the shots."
"It was all going wrong, wasn't it? It was a bad break after another. I don't know how I brought it back, but I did. With a big lead, you just can't let it slip at this level, and I let it slip."
On the 17th, Scott pulled to within one shot with a birdie after Els' 25-foot birdie putt fell inches short. On 18, Scott's wedge to the green landed 15 feet from the flag, but the Australian's birdie putt that would have forced a playoff stopped just short.
"I thought I was going to make it, it was right on line, but I never hit it," said Scott. "The greens are pretty quick. I've been lagging them all week, but I never should leave it short."
Scott and Els played all four rounds together.
"I have to give him a lot of credit," said Els. "At the end there was just one putt in it."
Els finished with a 20-under-par total of 268 while Scott's closing 67 left him at 19-under 269. Australian Peter Fowler was third at 15-under 273 after a 70, followed by Sweden's Peter Hanson at 274 after a 71.
Els said that "in a crazy way," it was one of his best wins.
"To play like that, and score 42 on the front nine, everything going against you, and somehow turning it back and really hitting some good shots ... I went through all the highs and lows," he said.
Els' final round was a 14-shot turnaround from his opening round of 60 at Royal Melbourne -- where he flirted with a 59 and had 29, not 42, on the front nine. On Friday, he set a European Tour record for the lowest 36-hole score after a 66.
In 1998, Els watched Tiger Woods, who trailed the South African by eight shots on the final round of the Johnnie Walker Classic, tie him in regulation and beat him in a two-hole playoff in Thailand.
Els' major problems began on the fourth. His third shot out of a greenside bunker went rolling past the flag and off the green. His attempted chip back hit the top of the green, then rolled back down the hill -- further away from the hole than where he started.
His fifth shot went to about eight feet, where he missed the putt for double bogey before sinking a three-footer for a 7.
Els had 178m to the hole on his second shot at the par-5 ninth, but his approach hit the high grassy rough near the green, with a bunker in between. Els mis-hit the wedge out and it stuck in the side of the bunker slope in a difficult lie.
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