Major opening for the ‘Big Easy’ Els

Tiger was out and the tournament was wide open. However, as the proceedings of the day showed, it seemed that as Ernie correctly said, most players have forgotten how to go out there and win. “You can beat the field but you can’t beat Tiger. You know he’s going to be in contention this week, so you can beat the field by a couple of shots but you might not beat Tiger at the end of the day.” But it wasn’t all that bad, though he did give his pregnant wife a scare.

After a long four days and five holes, Ernie Els finally managed to win his third major, but his first Claret Jug. “This is one of the hardest tournaments I have ever played, but also the most rewarding, said an exhausted Els after collecting his trophy.

The British Open as the Americans call it, is truly open and Frenchman Thomas Levet proved just that. Having finished 63rd at the Scottish Open in Loch Lomond the week before, no one would have thought that he would be walking the fairways of Muirfield late Sunday afternoon with a chance to win.

The bookies certainly had no odds in his favour, or for Steve Elkington and, it would be correct to say that it’s like no other major.