Elkington Wins Pga In Style Smooth-Swinging Snappy Dresser Turns Back Montgomerie In Playoff

Maybe it figures that in a land where style is everything, golf’s most stylish swinger and impeccable dresser would finally get some substance to go along with everything else.

Steve Elkington, the man with the best swing in golf, finally did the best thing in golf - he won a major championship, and he did so emphatically.

He did it by shooting a 64 Sunday, the lowest final round in the history of the PGA Championship, coming from six strokes back to overtake the faltering Ernie Els and then birdieing the first sudden-death playoff hole to defeat on-charging Colin Montgomerie, who had merely birdied the last three holes for a 65 that tied Elkington at 17 under par.

In the process, Elkington tied the lowest 72-hole total in major championship history with a 267 and established the record for the PGA Championship. How’s that for one of the most substantive performances the old game has seen all year? And it was all played out in the middle of a chaotic final round romp across Riviera Country Club.

“I just played the round of my life,” said a jubilant Elkington, 32, the Australian resident of Houston who now has his sixth PGA Tour victory. “I came into the day feeling like I had something to prove, and I proved it.”

He surely did. He proved that he can now make pressure putts, the kind that had previously bounced out and come up short. He proved that he could persevere, fight his way back and prevail under the most excruciating pressure. And he proved that no lead is ever safe, no matter who has it.

That is a lesson that Els has now learned. The 25-year-old South African, who had dominated the course, succumbed to both the Elkington onslaught and the uncertainties that can creep into the most seasoned mind on the final day of a major. He began the day with a three-stroke lead and ended it two strokes behind after a 72.

“I couldn’t find the fairway with my driver,” Els said. “I’m very disappointed. What the hell can I say? It was disappointing. I made some mistakes on the front nine. Some easy holes, I bogeyed. It was no fun.”

Els’s demise began at the fourth hole, the cruel, 236-yard par-3. He had a four-stroke lead on that tee, and chose to try to fly a 2-iron over the bunker in front.

He barely cleared it and then three-putted from 45 feet. Two holes later, at the 175-yard sixth, he bogeyed again, this time hooking his 6-iron shot left of the cart path. He had no chance to get up and down, with a bunker between him and the pin on a green that sloped away.

The golden putter he had wielded so magically through the first three rounds turned to tin in his hands Sunday. He missed a 5-footer for birdie at the seventh and a 6-footer at the eighth and suddenly the fourstroke lead he had at the fourth tee had evaporated.

And then Elkington put up three straight birdies, at the 10th, 11th and 12th. It was a stunning blow to Els, who already was reeling and playing tentatively. Els was able to birdie only one hole on the back nine. His putt for birdie to tie at the 16th hole hit the hole, dipped and spun out. He was stunned.

“That really took a lot out of me,” he said.

Els bogeyed the 17th hole, the same par-5 he had dominated all week. It was the first 6 on his scorecard, and it put him, figuratively, 6 feet under.

All that was left was Montgomerie, and he was the one who mounted the charge. He looked up at the scoreboard and saw he needed three straight birdies if he was going to have a chance.

He hit his shot to 4 feet at the 16th. Birdie to go 15 under. He hit his chip from the rough to 4 feet at the 17th. Birdie. He hit his 8-iron to 20 feet at the final hole.

Elkington was sitting in the scorer’s tent signing his card. He heard the roar and knew what had happened. Montgomerie’s putt went right to the bottom.

On the playoff, on Riviera’s 18th hole,Elkington and Montgomerie both ripped their drives, Montgomerie’s on the right side and Elkington’s in the light rough to the left. Elkington put an 8-iron 25 feet right of the hole. Montgomerie hit his 20 feet below. Now it was all laid out. After the shoulder surgery last year, after the sinus surgery, Elkington wondered if perhaps his career was over. Now it was just beginning.

As the ball rolled up the hill and toward the hole Elkington’s arms went up with it. The ball was still 5 feet away, but there was no doubt. Down it went. For the second time this year, after Corey Pavin’s victory in the U.S. Open, a man had won his first major.

Pullman’s Kirk Triplett finished with a 67 for 275 and earned $33,750.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FINAL RESULTS Top finishers at the PGA Championship at the Riviera Country Club, 6,949-yard par 71: *Steve Elkington 68-67-68-64-267 Colin Montgomerie 68-67-67-65-267 Ernie Els 66-65-66-72-269 Jeff Maggert 66-69-65-69-269 Brad Faxon 70-76-71-63-271 *Wins in sudden-death playoff