A Back 9 for the Ages : Scott's Collapse vs Enigmatic Ernie

Sunday evening quite simply took my breath away. Sentimentally of course, Ernie Els is the one golfer I’ve been following and supporting blindly ever since the sport enchanted me back in the mid 90s. From his 2^nd US Open triumph, it has been a steady case of near misses, failure to turn up altogether, injuries and of course, domination by a certain striped jungle cat. I missed his Open triumph at Muirfield in 2002 and this Open success was as sweet for me as any success for a sports fan. However this post is not by Ernie’s fan, but more about by a student of the game.

Going through the innumerable articles and reactions since the unbelievable Sunday back 9 at Lytham, it bothered me that all the attention was focussed on Adam Scott and how he choked over the final 4 holes. Comparisons with Greg Norman at the Masters and Jean Van de Velde from Carnoustie in ’99 were painfully common. One writer went to the extent of saying that Ernie had been gifted the Open due to no great play by him but merely by the massive collapse of the Aussie Scott’s game.

                                                  Els and Scott : Contrasting Emotions

True , Scott choked and badly at that. Standing on the 15^th tee leading by 4 strokes, there was no way he should have let Ernie back into contention. But his demise should not in any way undermine a phenomenal back nine of golf by the Big Easy. On a Sunday afternoon , when the slumbering course finally woke up and terrorised pretty much all competitors especially the later groups , Els’ mastery of the windy links was as contributory to his win as was Adam’s disintegration. Consider the following stats – of the 6 players in the final 3 groups with a genuine shot at the title on Sunday ,  Scott , Graeme McDowell and Brandt Snedekar all shot 5 over par rounds of 75 , while Tiger Woods and Zach Johnson shot 3 and 4 over par respectively. Under such brutal scoring conditions, Els’ 2 under 68, should be equated with rounds of 65 or below on normal courses. Consider the tough back 9 where pretty much everyone dropped at least 2 shots – Els played it 4 under par.

While it is easy to say that he could have shot lower had he not left a number of putts agonisingly short of the hole, the great tee-to-green golf played by Ernie to get to those potential birdie opportunities should not be forgotten. In the home stretch, he took on the task of challenging Scott by hitting driver of pretty much every tee. Even on the 15^th and 16^th where he found the thick stuff, some immaculate scrambling and pressure putting ensured he didn’t not drop a shot (as vital as gaining strokes)

His clutch birdie putt on the 18^th is destined to become part of Open folklore, not only because it gained a vital stroke which won him the championship outright, but it can be argued that it was this birdie which made Scott hit a 3 wood on the 18^th tee, which ultimately found the fairway bunker and sealed his Open fate. So essentially that putt on 18 becomes a 2 shot gain for Els, the difference between winning or losing by a single stroke.

So while we gawk astonished at Adam Scott’s meltdown , it would not be fair to deprive Els of the praise worthy of a back 9 of golf that merits consideration among the tournaments great ones.