Els: Loss hard for `Big Easy' to swallow
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It was in the dusk of a blazing hot Saturday evening when Ernie Els assessed three rounds of the 2004 Masters in the aftermath of his third-round 71 that had gotten him into a share of fourth place.
Only thing is, he was three shots back and his history in this major championship hasn't been a series of great rewards. A second. A fifth. Sixth twice. An eighth. Top 10s and all that, but you take home goblets and piles of cash with such performances, not the green jacket.
So Els shrugged his shoulders and was every bit the guy known as The Big Easy when he said: "We'll see. The back nine owes me, you know."
Those who know their Masters history know what he means. Most painful is the memory of a triple-bogey 8 at the 510-yard 13th in 2002, a sequence of miserable shots that cost him a good chance to catch Tiger Woods. Els finished runner-up. Not that he knew the numbers, but the history also showed that in 11 previous trips around Augusta National's back nine on Sunday, Els had been a mind-boggling 6 over.
This year, he vowed, things would be different. How right he was.
Thanks to a birdie at the par-4 seventh and an eagle at the par-5 eighth, Els had pushed to 5 under and into a one-shot lead over Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, and Bernhard Langer. With the back nine approaching, the South African felt good, and even after he just missed birdie putts of 30 and 10 feet at the par-4 10th and par-3 12th, he had a one-shot lead.
"That putt on 10, I thought I made it," said Els.
He never had made an eagle on the back in the final round at Augusta, but he accomplished that this time around, knocking down a 10-footer at the 13th to erase memories of that 2002 heartache. With a birdie at the next par 5, the 15th, he was 8 under and still in the lead. It's just that he couldn't get any deeper into red numbers -- nor could he do anything about Mickelson, because in golf, you don't play defense.
"He's been here a long time," Els said of Mickelson. "We both knew the shots we had to hit. Phil beat me. That's how it goes. He deserved to win."
Two US Open titles and a Claret Jug for winning the British Open? Els has them, but he's also got a heavy heart over the green jacket that got away yesterday. Indeed, Mickelson had won with a five-birdie effort over the back nine -- a 31 that sits right up there with Jack Nicklaus's 30 in 1986 and Gary Player's 30 in 1975, both of them producing wins -- but Els had given himself every opportunity to win.
"I felt like I could have birdied every hole, the way I was playing," he said. "I was really pumped up."
Even after he missed a birdie try at the 17th and drove into the bunker at the par-4 18th, he was focused. A splendid 8-iron out of that bunker gave him a birdie try at the 72d hole, but Els couldn't knock it down. So he watched TV in the scorer's building, saw Mickelson miss a birdie at 17, and knew there was nothing to do but head to the putting green.
"What more can you do?" he asked. "You going to watch him?"
So Els putted, not more than 50 or 60 yards from the 18th green, but there was a sea of people and he couldn't see. But he could hear. First a roar to signal that Mickelson had put his second shot on the green. Then another roar that was louder. Much, much louder. Game over.
But not the questions, so one of the PGA Tour's grandest and most gracious competitors faced the media. Els had authored an 8-under 280 over a demanding course, only it had not been good enough. Not because he wasn't good enough, but because someone was better by the slimmest of margins.
Did Els feel relieved for Mickelson, given the fact the lefthander had faced so much scrutiny for never having won a major? Els shook his head.
"Well, he's won one now," he said. "What do you want from me?"
Not a thing. He already had provided his part of a thrilling golf script with his back-side 33. Indeed, those nine holes had owed him. They just didn't pay him off in full. 