South African Darren Fichardt carded a final-round 68 to sneak into fourth place on 16 under, while first-round leader Andrew Raitt managed to hold on to have a share of fifth place with world number five Retief Goosen and youngster Louis Oosthuizen. The much-anticipated duel between Els and overnight leader Immelman did not appear after the latter struggled in the late morning wind, while Els was on song. Immelman started three shots up after a course record 63 in the third round, but when the wind picked up it seemed he did not have quite the same touch as he did a day earlier. Els, who on Saturday said he was looking to overhaul Tiger Woods in the next three years, was quickly off the mark. The Big Easy had picked up birdies on two and five to close the gap to one stroke before an error by Immelman on the sixth allowed the former world number one to take the lead. Els put his tee shot within four feet of the pin on the par three. Immelman, by contrast, caught a gust of wind that sent his ball right onto the lip of the green and rolled off into the bunker. Immelman's chip onto the green rolled some eight feet past the hole and he two-putted to take the bogey. Els birdied to move into the lead with a two-shot swing on the hole. From there on, it was all Els as the tournament built up to its climax. Els was stung back into action by a birdie on 11 from Immelman which cut the lead to one. Els then birdied 12 and 13 to take him three out in front once again. Three straight birdies between 14 and 16 sealed it as Els cruised home and Immelman never had a chance to catch him, despite birdies on 15 and 17. Els sent his approach on the 18th onto the lip of the bunker and his chip was short, leaving himself two putts - and a bogey - to clinch the title. But he admitted that it was as good as he could have played. "I can't really do much better than this," he said with a smile, "It was just a pity about the last hole. "I had a strange day in that I first had to catch up, then did, and then had to play aggressively while protecting a lead. If Trevor had sunk some putts it could have been very different." FINAL SCORES: 264 Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 66 66 65; 267 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 67 66 63 71; 268 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 64 69 67; 272 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 67 65 68; 273 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 65 70 67, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 66 68 70, Andrew Raitt 67 68 68 70; 274 Gary Lockerbie 72 66 70 65, Lee Westwood 68 68 68 70; 275 Robert Rock 70 68 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 68 68 68, Lee James 71 69 67 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 65 70 Selected others: 278 Lee Slattery 71 70 69 68 284 Phillip Archer 75 68 69 72 | 
