Ernie Els emerges as winner at Champion Tour’s SAS Championship in Cary

As a first-time entrant in the SAS Championship, it was just a matter of time before Ernie Els figured out what needed to be done.

He finally took the lead on his last shot of the three-day tournament. That was enough.

“Every golf course to me is a new one because I’m a rookie (on the PGA Champions Tour),” Els said. “I haven’t played too many tournaments out here on the Champions Tour. … The golf course suited my eye, so I had a good time.”

Els had to earn this one, withstanding a crowded back-nine leaderboard and dealing with a menacing rain down the stretch Sunday at Prestonwood Country Club.

Els, who birdied No. 17, drained a 40-foot uphill birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 6-under 66, moving alone atop the leaderboard for the first time in the tournament.

“You never know if you read it right, but I knew it was going to come right to left and then straighten up and that’s exactly what happened,” Els said. “I made the right putts at the right time for once. That doesn’t always happen.”

Then he had to wait for Colin Montgomerie to complete three more holes.

Els ended up at 12 under, one stroke better than Montgomerie.

For the eighth time in the 20-year history, the tournament’s winner is a past major champion. The South African has won the U.S. Open twice and British Open twice.

Els, a World Golf Hall of Famer who turns 51 next weekend, improved his score by two shots each day. Until winning March’s Hoag Classic in Newport Beach, Calif., for his first Champions Tour title, he hadn’t won on U.S. soil since capturing the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2010.

Els posted four birdies in a five-hole stretch (Nos. 6-10) Sunday. By then, he had adjusted for a round that included a weather-related interruption and plenty of uncertainty.

“There was probably a chance we wouldn’t play,” Els said.

With leftovers from Hurricane Delta making a presence at the final round, Montgomerie didn’t make a late move. By the round’s conclusion, he failed to birdie any of the par 5s and notched a par on the last hole. He posted 70.

Vijay Singh was third at 10 under after his 70.

David Toms stayed in the mix, but incurred too many late snags. He shot 71, finishing at 9 under to join Kirk Triplett, Woody Austin, Gene Sauers and Robert Karlsson in a fourth-place tie.

Toms had a safe round until his second shot on No. 15 went into the water, resulting in a double-bogey 6 and dropping him out of a share for the lead. An eagle on No. 17 wasn’t enough, and he took a bogey on the last hole.

Austin, who played the last two holes in a combined 4 under across the first two rounds, hit his second shot into the creek on the 17th on Sunday to quash his chances.

“I gave myself a chance (until then),” Austin said. “I knew I was still in the game.”

There was little separation among potential champions for much of the final round.

Eight golfers shared the lead at 8 under after all entrants had played at least six holes. By the midway mark Sunday, 10 golfers were within a shot of the lead.

Jim Furyk, in a bid to become the first golfer to win his first three starts on an PGA-sanctioned circuit, lurked a shot back through 12 holes after five birdies in a six-hole stretch. His bogey on No. 16 cost him a chance to make a late charge toward history.

Furyk’s final-round 70 left him at 8 under and tied for ninth.

Sauers and Karlsson, who eagled the final hole, were in the clubhouse at 9 under while other contenders still had plenty of holes to play. Sauers shot 67. Karlsson opened with a 73 but then used 66 and 68 to move into contention.

Final-round play was suspended for about two hours shortly after the first few groups began in the morning. Play resumed at 10:35 a.m.

This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 5:27 PM.