Ernie Els gets 66th career win in Germany
Photo of golfer Ernie Els at the 2009 President’s Cup at Harding Park in San Francisco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Ernie Els went wire-to-wire this week in Germany, leading to his 66th career professional win at the BMW International Open.
What Happened
Els entered Sunday’s final round in a three-way tie for the lead with Sweden’s Alexander Noren and Alexander Levy of France at 15-under par, with two-time BMW International champion Thomas Bjorn just one shot back. Els was playing with Bjorn in the second last group on the course, while Noren and Levy played together in the final pairing. Els started out hot, firing a three-under par 33 on the front nine, which was matched by Bjorn and Levy, while Noren struggled with a 2-over par 38. The back nine was slightly different, with both Els and Bjorn bogeying the par-5 11th, opening the door for Levy, but he couldn’t get hot down the stretch, alternating between bogeys and birdies before ending his back nine with a 2-over par 38. After Bjorn double bogeyed the 14th, Els parred out until the closing hole where he made birdie to finish one clear of Bjorn at 18-under par.
Final Leaderboard
- 1. Ernie Els -18
- 2. Thomas Bjorn -17
- 3. Alexander Levy -16
- T4. Bernd Wiesberger -15
- T4. Martin Kaymer -15
- T4. Alexander Noren -15
What The Win Means For Els
It’s another notch on the belt for Els really, who now has a ridiculous 66 career professional victories on his resume. Els was coming off of a great performance at the U.S. Open, finishing tied for 4th at Merion, leading him to jump all the way into the top-20 in the Official World Golf Rankings. This win will move him further up the list inside the top-15, depending on the results of this afternoon’s final round at the PGA Tour’s Travelers Championship. There was some talk last year that the only reason he won the Open Championship was because Adam Scott choked it away to him, and that Els was pretty much done in terms of winning golf tournaments, seeing as how his last win previous to that was back in December of 2010. In a tournament that had a pretty stacked field and on a course where the winner had to go low, Els proved that he is far from done as a winner, and that swing still looks absolutely gorgeous.
Other Notes
- Notables to miss the cut: Thomas Aiken, Colin Montgomerie, Thorbjorn Olesen, Tom Lewis, Alvaro Quiros, Simon Dyson, Jeev Milkha Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal and David Lynn.
- Notable finishes: Sergio Garcia (T7), Henrik Stenson (T10), Peter Uihlein (T10), Dustin Johnson (T18), Matteo Manassero (T22), Miguel Angel Jimenez (T28) and Paul Casey (T53).
- It’s the 25th anniversary of the event, and the tournament celebrated in a traditional German way, so here’s a picture of Dustin Johnson in lederhosen.
AdamSarson.com 