EVEN THE presence of President Clinton and his daughter Chelsea among the capacity attendance at Congressional CC yesterday, failed to produce an American winner. The 97th US Open title went to South Africa's Ernie Els who won a thrilling, fourway battle against Colin Montgomerie, Tom Lehman and Jeff Maggert.
In the process, the 27 year old claimed an elevated position in the game's roll of honour. He became the first overseas player in 87 years, to win the blue riband of American golf for a second time.
Ironically, the player he emulated was a Scot, Alex Smith of Carnoustie. But Els admitted: "I'm not into all that history stuff. All I hope is that for Colin's sake, he wins a major one day. He deserves to."
Clearly, Els had some sympathy for a player whom he also beat for the title at Oakmont three years ago, in a playoff.
Lending further credence to the adage about an illwind, Els attributed his victory to the fact that the third round was interrupted by rain. "When I came in after the 13th on Saturday evening, I was struggling a bit on the greens," he said.
He went on: "I needed the break. And it showed when I returned this morning to start on the 14th. Having left my approach short of the green, I chipped to 12 feet and then sank the putt for a par. After that, I had three birdies in a row and suddenly, I was right back in the tournament."
Indeed he was, two strokes behind the leader, Lehman, and playing alongside Montgomerie in the second last pairing of the day. And his luck continued to hold good during the final round. Having given himself the chance of staying with the pace through excellent saves at the first three holes he was then ready to compete in earnest.
Putts of 20 feet and 40 feet found the target for birdies at the seventh and eighth and though he bogeyed the ninth through an overzealous wedge approach, salvation was at hand. From off the front of the 10th green, Els holed a 30 foot putt for a most improbable birdie.
Then, he produced two five irons shots of the highest quality. The first of them came at the short 12th to deliver a birdie from 10 feet and the next came on the 17th, where his rivals foundered disastrously.
Lehman, who was in the water there, said afterwards: "I would give anything in the world for a Mulligan.
When it was all over, an official gently chastised Els for raising his hands in triumph on the 18th, when Lehman could still have forced a play off with a hole in one. Lightning had sent play into extra time on Friday and Saturday and even Els knew that it wasn't about to happen a third time.
