Sixth Win Not Best for Els As Westwood Feels Sick

With the most dramatic gesture of a largely undistinguished final, Ernie Els holed a 20ft birdie putt on the 35th green of the HSBC World Match Play Championship to win the event for a record sixth time. In beating Lee Westwood by 2&1 he not only won the £1m first prize, he overtook the five-times winners Severiano Ballesteros and Gary Player and took to £3,005,000 his total winnings in 10 of these events.

Moreover, the South African won on what was his 35th birthday, having won his first as a 24-year-old when the top money was £160,000.

Els acknowledged that the golf had not been great. He was only four under for 35 holes and said: "I won more with grit than with flair. Also I know Lee got a little bit sick at lunchtime, which was good for me."

It transpired that the Englishman was suffering from a chest infection and, as he admitted, "ran out of steam" over the closing holes. "I've got a virus as well," he said. "It's in my ears and I felt that I had no balance, felt that I was moving all over the place, which is not the best thing when you are putting."

Els, who came close to winning three majors this year and won none, said: "Three weeks ago I was complaining about all kinds of stuff, but now I have won twice in that time and it has become a great season." He won the American Express World Golf Championship in Ireland three weeks ago, making this week's win his fifth worldwide this year. He also tied up the Volvo Order of Merit for the second successive year with a record €4,061,903 (£2.8m).

"To win six of these things," he said of the Match Play, "is a brilliant feeling. I know how Lee feels at this moment - I've been there and it's not nice."

Asked why he was so successful in this format, Els agreed that he loved match play. As he has now played 26 matches and lost only four of them, few could quibble.

Els, not at anything like his imperious best all week, had to resort to grinding out pars wherever he could and, given that he had five bogeys in yesterday morning's round, hope he could counteract them with enough sub-par scores to salvage respectability. In fact he got round in 70, only two under, and that was a score which contained two eagles, at the long 4th and 12th holes, both of them in reach with a mid iron off a good drive.

Westwood, who at times had been quite brilliant in this tournament and began the final with an aggregate of 32 under par, compared with Els's 21, also struggled yesterday. His morning 69 was good enough only for all square at lunch. He had been better than that in beating all three of his previous opponents, the Open champion Todd Hamilton, the US Open champion Retief Goosen and the four-times winner this year Miguel Angel Jiménez. In many ways Westwood, despite Els's illustrious record in this event, was the form horse for the final, but the golf that had got him there was not with him when he needed it most.

The South African made the first moves, holing a 10-foot birdie putt at the 3rd and then one from 11 feet at the next for an eagle. Westwood produced a great response at the short 5th, hitting a five-iron to two feet, and then got a good break at the 7th where, after unwisely taking too much club off the tee, he ran through the fairway and on to a bridge crossing a water hazard. One of golf's more arcane rules allowed him to ground his club on the bridge, even though it was within the hazard marking lines (Note to Rule 13-4 applies), and he saved a par and a half.

The Englishman was only one down at the start of the back nine and, given that he was a total of 22 under for the homeward half and Els only 11, had reason to hope. But he missed the green at the short 10th and found the trampled grass and mud of a spectator area, and that was two down.

Now was not the time to make any mistakes but Westwood did at the long 12th where, after Els was in the trees from the tee and always taking five at best, the Englishman could not get his birdie from a relatively easy position in a greenside bunker.

Still two down after 14 and needing to make something happen, Westwood hit his best shot of the day at the 15th, a towering eight-iron which dropped down and stopped dead only two feet from the hole. It won him the hole, but another mistake at the next effectively cost him the match. From the 16th fairway he hit his second so hard that he imparted an enormous amount of spin, so although the ball pitched six feet from the hole it finished some 30 feet away. He ran that putt six feet past the hole before missing the one back and, at two down with two to play, found himself almost without hope.

Winning ways - six times over

1994

Seve Ballesteros 2&1, Jose Maria Olazabal 2&1, Colin Montgomerie 4&2

Marked debut by toppling Ballesteros, who had seven twos in their memorable game, and Olazabal before repeating his US Open win over Montgomerie.

1995

Lee Janzen 4&3, Bernhard Langer 1 hole, Steve Elkington 3&1

Was 12 under against Janzen, his predecessor as US Open champion, seven under against Langer, and then six under against the reigning US PGA champion Elkington.

1996

Steve Stricker 1 hole, Mark Brooks 10&8, Vijay Singh 3&2

Came from six down with 16 to play to beat Stricker, achieved the tournament's third biggest win against Brooks, and then came from two down in the final.

2002

Colin Montgomerie 6&5, Vijay Singh 3&2, Sergio Garcia 2&1

Created tournament record with an opening 60, 12 under par, against Montgomerie and never trailed all week. Took revenge over Singh, who beat him in 1997, and an outward 30 set him on course against Garcia.

2003

Tim Clark 2 holes, Vijay Singh 5&4, Thomas Bjorn 4&3

Held off late Clark rally, from four down against Singh won tournament record eight holes in a row, then beat Bjorn despite the Dane's hole-in-one at the 32nd to equal record five wins of Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros.

2004

Scott Drummond 2&1, Angel Cabrera 1 hole, Padraig Harrington 5&4, Lee Westwood 2&1

The first time Els had to play the first round. Came from two down four times to beat Drummond, sank a nine-foot closing putt against Cabrera, was always in control against Harrington and finished Westwood off with a 20-footer.