Ernie Els secured the first senior major championship of his career Sunday, winning the Kaulig Companies Championship on Sunday at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
Els posted a final-round, 2-under-par 68 to finish the week at 10-under 270, hanging on to defeat South Korea’s Y.E. Yang (66 Sunday) by one shot.
The former World No. 1 from South Africa won a pair of U.S. Opens and a pair of Open Championships during his Hall of Fame career, but Els had yet to break through at a senior major despite myriad close calls.
Els had 11 previous top-10 finishes at senior majors, including top-fives at each of the past four Kaulig Companies Championships (previously known as the Senior Players Championship).
“I’ve just been watching Steve (Stricker) do it the last couple of years since I’ve been out here. He’s been the man, him and Bernhard (Langer) and some of the other guys,” Els said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “I like to work on my game still. I’m trying to keep myself healthy. … it’s kind of fun still, (to) just try and improve.”
Firestone hosted a prominent PGA Tour stop, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, for decades before becoming the designated host of the Kaulig Companies Championship. Els had never won on the course before Sunday.
“This has been a long time coming. On this golf course, 32 years ago I started playing here … but I never got to win here, so this was really, really great,” Els said.
Stricker began the day with a one-stroke lead over Els and Sweden’s Robert Karlsson. Els quickly took control by birdieing Nos. 2, 5 and 8 while Stricker, playing with him in the final group, played the front nine in even par.
Els bogeyed No. 10 but made an important par save at the par-3 12th and holed a lengthy birdie putt at No. 14 to get to 11 under, one above Yang at the time.
Els hit the water on his second shot at the par-5 16th hole and carded a bogey, but soon after that, Yang missed a par putt at his final hole and bogeyed down to 9 under. Els came home with a pair of pars, starting the 18th with a perfect drive.
“The whole week I’ve been trying to hit that hard, high cut,” Els said. “The whole day, too, I had been driving it well. So I had a lot of confidence in the driver, I just had to pull off the shot. I hit it down the left and it was perfect.”
Els is the first three-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.
Yang had six birdies Sunday along with bogeys at Nos. 12 and 18. Jerry Kelly shot a 69 to finish alone in third at 7 under.
Stricker stumbled on the back nine with a bogey and triple bogey at Nos. 13 and 14, eventually settling for a 73 and a tie for fourth at 6 under with South Korea’s K.J. Choi (70).
–Field Level Media
