Ernie Els set a
tournament record low score when he clinched the Million Dollar
Challenge with a bogey-free 66 for a 25-under par 263 on Sunday.
The South African, who began the day already six strokes
clear of the field, made no mistakes as he won the invitation
tournament for the first time in eight attempts and eclipsed
Zimbabwean Nick Price's 24-under par set in 1993.
Scotland's Colin Montgomerie finished second on 20-under par
268 after a 65, with Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who also
went round in 65, third on 270.
The magnitude of Els' performance was clearly evident in
that the finishing totals of both Montgomerie and Clarke would
have won them 17 of the 18 previous Million Dollar Challenges.
"This isn't a major, but I had goosebumps all over me. I've
never felt like this," said Els.
Els, who on Friday hit a joint course record 64, equalled
Price's tournament low with a birdie at the par-five 14th and
then holed a 12-footer for birdie at the 17th to claim the
record for himself.
TOTALR1 R2 R3 R4
263 Ernie Els (South Africa) 67 66 64 66
268 Colin Montgomerie (Britain)66 69 68 65
270 Darren Clarke (Britain)72 69 64 65
274 Lee Westwood (Britain) 68 70 70 66
275 Jim Furyk (U.S.) 70 71 65 69
277 Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 70 72 68 67
280 Nick Price (Zimbabwe)68 72 68 72
281 John Huston (U.S.) 67 76 68 70
283 Sergio Garcia (Spain)71 67 70 75
284 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain)69 74 73 68
286 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 76 72 69 69
286 Paul Lawrie (Britain)65 76 71 74
