No Match for Els’ Third Title

Ernie Els became the first player to win three consecutive World Match Play titles when he defeated Vijay Singh, 3 and 2, Sunday at Virginia Water, England.

Els’ victory brought him $265,200, increasing the South African’s cumulative earnings in the tournament to $780,000.

Els, a former U.S. Open winner, prevailed on a day when neither player was especially sharp.

“The first thing I’d better do is buy a couple of rounds in the bar,” Els said. “I didn’t play all that great today but, hey, it was good enough.”

Winner over Colin Montgomerie in 1994 and Steve Elkington last year, Els tapped in a two-footer at the 16th to clinch the victory.

“It’s a great feeling to have won it three times in a row,” Els said. “Now I will be back next year again. I had to play well because I knew this man would come after me.”

Singh, from Fiji, one of the four unseeded players in the competition, had to play eight rounds in four days and beat the leader on the PGA Tour, Phil Mickelson, U.S. Open champion Steve Jones and then British Open champ Tom Lehman to reach the final.

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Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam shot a two-under-par 70, beating compatriot Helen Alfredsson by a shot, to win the World Championship of Women’s Golf at Seoul, South Korea

Sorenstam, the defending champion, started the round with eight pars, then made three birdies before her lone bogey at the 13th hole.

The victory was worth $125,000. That increased Sorenstam’s LPGA earnings for this year to $780,000, third-best on the circuit.

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Jim Colbert won his fifth Senior PGA Tour title of the year, shooting a five-under 67 in windy conditions for a five-stroke victory in the Gold Rush Classic at El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Colbert, an 18-time winner in six years on the senior tour, earned $120,000 to take the money lead from Hale Irwin with $1,490,995.