The unthinkable all but happened to the unsinkable Ernie Els yesterday. The man who had ripped a strong field apart over the first three days of the Heineken Classic fell apart himself over the first nine holes of the final round at Royal Melbourne, by the end of which he had squandered the eight-stroke lead he held at the start of the day and was tied for the tournament with Adam Scott.

It was a scarcely believable scenario. The man ranked third in the world, who had completed the first 18 holes in only 60 shots, had taken 42 for nine holes and was being pressed by Scott, a great talent desperate to win his first event in his homeland. But Els birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine, came home in 32 and won his third successive Heineken Classic by one shot from Scott.

Rounds of 60, 66, 68 and 74 gave him a total of 20-under, still a remarkable score. Peter Fowler was third, five behind, and the leading Europeans were the Swede Peter Hanson and the Scot Stephen Gallacher, six and seven in arrears respectively.

"In a crazy sort of way," Els said, "that was one of my best wins. When the chips were down, I held my nerve." It was, he added, "a day of all the highs and all the lows. By the end of the ninth I felt it was kind of laughable, the bad breaks I was getting.

"But what can you do? Do you give up, or go home, or get a sore wrist? You've just got to hang in there. I felt I crossed another hurdle today because on the back nine I put my head down and just had a fair old battle with Adam." That he succeeded is a tribute to the determination that is overlaid by his easy-going appearance.

Els produced some brilliant strokes on that back nine and Scott, eventually round in 67 on a difficult, windy day, had to play close to his best to stay with the South African.

The young Australian, two behind on the 17th tee, holed a 30-footer for a birdie to close within a shot, and hit the better approach at the 18th. But after Els had got a safe par, Scott had a 15-footer for a birdie that would take him into a play-off. He left it three inches short.

The prolonged head-shaking that followed told the tale. Els began the final round badly, and got a lot worse. From 100 yards out he pitched his second to the first hole through the green, and bogeyed. But it was at the fourth that his trials really began with a second shot that was 20 yards too long and finished in the back bunker. From there he pitched past the pin, the ball rolling down a steep slope and finishing 20 yards off the putting surface.

Els tried to be too cute with the next and could only stand and watch in embarrassment as the ball rolled back to his feet. Obviously angry, he played the next too quickly some 12 feet past the pin and then had to hole from three feet for a triple-bogey seven. Suddenly he was four-over after four and his lead had gone from eight to three.

The lead vanished altogether at the long ninth, a hole players expect to birdie. There were two important moments on the back nine. Els missed the green at the short 11th and faced a difficult pitch over a bunker. He thought about playing sideways, but reminded himself that "I've got this shot" and played it well to about 10 feet. In went the par putt which, in his words, was "huge".

His flow was back, and on he went to claim the victory, 32,048 and the number one spot in the Volvo Order of Merit.

Ireland's Gary Murphy finished with a 73 for a 281 total and a cheque for 12,634