End of winless drought for Els

GOLF WGC-CA CHAMPIONSHIP:SOUTH AFRICA'S Ernie Els ended a two-year winless drought at the expense of his house guest Charl Schwartzel in the WGC-CA Championship at the TPC Blue Monster in Miami yesterday, but it proved to be an exasperating final round for Pádraig Harrington who was forced to settle for a three-way share of third place after a final round 72 for 277, 11-under-par.

Els fired a final round 66 for 270, 18-under-par, four shots clear of his nearest challenger, to claim his second WGC title.

Without a win on tour since his US PGA title win in 2008, Harrington entered the final round just a shot behind third round leaders Els and Schwartzel but the Dubliner was left trailing in the wake of the South African duo and any outside chance of a late-round charge was ruined by a run of three successive bogeys from the 13th.

In fairness to Harrington, his response to that run of bogeys was to roll in an 18-footer for a birdie on the 16th and, showing his fighting spirit right to the end, he holed a 10-footer for par on the last which left him in a three-way tie for third alongside American Matt Kuchar and Germany’s Martin Kaymer.

Harrington secured his first birdie of the round on the fifth, holing from three feet, but had to wait until the 10th hole, where he played his third shot with his feet perched on rocks in the water hazard, before grabbing his second birdie of the round. Despite the awkward stance, Harrington hit a good approach to 12 feet and sank the putt for birdie.

There was trouble lurking ahead, however. Harrington’s tee-shot on the par three 13th found a greenside bunker and he failed to get up-and-down and, then, after another bogey on the 14th, he found more sand trouble on the 15th which resulted in another bogey and effectively his challenge for the title.

There was no denying three-time major champion Els, who, at the age of 40, became the second oldest winner of a World Golf Championship. He previously won this event at Mount Juliet (when it was known as the American Express championship) in 2004.

Els, who moved his family to Florida so that his autistic son Ben could receive the best treatment, hadn’t won on tour since the Honda Classic in 2008. But, in what turned into a duel between the teacher and the pupil, Els outgunned Schwartzel with a display of single putting that left his protégé unable to stay with him.

The definitive moment came on the par four 14th, where Els – with a rare poor drive – pulled his tee-shot into left rough and then pulled his second into more deep rough. He somehow conjured up a par, holing a 35 foot to maintain his impressive bogey-free run.

Schwartzel, a two-time winner on the PGA European Tour already this season, having claimed back-to-back titles in the Africa Open and the Joburg Open, produced his best-ever finish in the US, with a final round 70 for 274, four shots adrift of Els.

Graeme McDowell produced a bogey-free final round 66 to finish in tied-sixth on 278 (10-under), which will ensure he stays in the world’s top-50 and so secure him a place in the field for next week’s Bay Hill Invitational. The Ulsterman had a purple patch in the middle of his round, grabbing five successive birdies from the eighth hole to charge up the leaderboard.

Rory McIlroy, however, finished a disappointing week with a third successive 73.

McIlroy has been battling the recurrence of a back problem for the last six weeks, but at least that had improved for his final round.

“I just didn’t have it and haven’t had it for the last couple of weeks. I’ve a few issues to sort out when I get home.

“The back isn’t worrying me, but it’s getting me down,” he said.