Ernie Els wins wild race to SAS Championship finish, beating the field — and the weather
Ernie Els won a rip-roaring, eight-wide scramble to the finish Sunday at the SAS Championship, holding off not only Colin Montgomerie but a rapidly impinging storm, leaving both right to the very end.
The drama wasn’t just on the leaderboard, where 10 different players held a share of the lead on the final day. It was on the clock, a race against the remnants of Hurricane Delta to get things finished before the weather and television windows closed.
All of it made for a wet and wild final round. Els didn’t lead until his final putt, a long birdie on 18, and he was safely dry and in the clubhouse by the time Colin Mongomerie’s putt to force a playoff on 18 went awry and the heavens, as if they had been staying their hand until then, unloaded a fresh deluge.
Els was the big winner, holding off Montgomerie by a stroke at 12-under-par, but it was a win for everyone that the tournament finished at all. Sunday was a constant dance with the rain clouds, with the heavy stuff making its way up Highway 1 from Pinehurst. The final group finished in a gathering monsoon at 5:21 p.m.
“When we actually started it was raining and it held up a little bit, but there was always a little bit of spit all day long,” Els said. “And then on the back nine, it really started pouring again. I really feel that the players felt it, too, because the pace of play was really fast on the back nine. Guys were really trying to get to the finish line. And that was a good sign, because when Colin finished it was raining again. Tough conditions.”
At one point, there was an eight-way tie for the lead, which left the nightmare scenario looming in the back of everyone’s mind: A rain-delayed Monday playoff when everyone involved would just as soon get on the road to the next tournament in Richmond.
All day long, the tension was palpable: Not merely the dozen or so players jockeying for the lead like a pack of colts racing down the backstretch at the Kentucky Derby, and kicking up almost as much mud, but the race to finish before the weather put its foot down.
In the dampness, the course was playing longer and tougher than usual, but that was only half the challenge. Woody Austin, distracted on the 12th tee amid rumors play might be stopped as a cloudburst freshened, hit his drive so far right he ended up playing up the 16th fairway.
“We had heard that they were about to take us off the golf course on the 11th green,” Austin said. “I kind of rushed up there on the tee and the rain was starting to come and I pretty much just shanked it.”
Austin then had a long walk around the lake to get to the green and back on track. That left the final group far behind as everyone else tried to hustle home.
Already delayed two hours in the morning thanks to an early downpour, the leaders were on 12 when the mist turned to rain that nattered against umbrellas with an angry tapping, as it would off and on for the rest of the afternoon. By that time, there was a three-way tie for the lead between Els, Montgomerie and David Toms, with another seven players within two shots.
But as the weather worsened, the scenario atop the leaderboard cleared. Els never saw the fairway on 17 but made birdie to join Montgomerie in the lead at 11 under. Just like that, it was a three-man race, with only Austin a shot back.
But Austin hit it in the water on 17 and Els rammed in a 40-footer on 18, then retired to the warmth of the clubhouse to await his fate.
Montgomerie couldn’t catch him. Neither could the rain.
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
