Best of the Decade: The Best Golf Shots of the 2010’s
By Bill Felber
7. Ernie Els, 18th hole, Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s, 2012 British Open
Was Ernie Els through as a front-rank player in 2012, or did it merely look that way?
Els himself provided the answer via his surprising victory at that summer’s British Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Annes. Not at all.
That was not the obvious answer for the 42-year-old. A serious threat to Tiger Woods in Woods’ own prime, Els had not won a major since the Open a decade earlier and had failed to make the cut in three of his four most recent major starts, including the 2011 Brit.
Just four holes from the finish, Els still looked more like an aging hero making a valedictory appearance than a titlist. He trailed Adam Scott by four strokes standing on the 15th tee Sunday.
But Scott bogeyed the 15th, then the 16th. Els, playing two groups ahead, didn’t know it as he approached the 18th tee, but he was about to find himself one birdie from a tie for first…or better. He got that birdie, knocking home a 15-foot putt as Scott wrestled unsuccessfully with saving par at 17.
That left it to Scott to par 18 and force Els to a playoff, or birdie and win outright. His drive slid into a pot bunker from which the only escape was sideways. Scott fired his approach within 12 feet of the pin, but his putt to force a playoff curled off the edge. Suddenly, the world’s oldest gold championship had a familiar, yet very surprising, champion.