GOLF/Australasian and European Tours: Ernie Els, the Big Easy to all, won the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne yesterday, easily. He finished with a five-shot margin over Peter Fowler, David Howell and the man with the most unfortunate initials in Australia, Peter O'Malley.

Els had a final round of three under par, for his third successive 69, for a 17-under-par total of 271 and appeared to be on cruise control after his opening 64.

That, however, was a misapprehension. When the final round was over and victory complete, Els, to general astonishment, revealed that far from being confident, he had been nervous before the start and plagued with negative thoughts for his first eight holes.

"I hadn't been in this situation," said Els of being in contention, "for quite some time. Then I started hearing the cheers and I knew only one man created a noise as loud as that in Australia and I knew he was coming after me."

That man was Greg Norman, and just as Els was three-putting the sixth to drop back to 14-under, so Norman was birdieing the 10th to move up to 12-under.

"I knew I had to do something good quickly," said Els, and such is the ability of the man that he was able to immediately birdie the seventh.

As it turned out, Norman's challenge faded over the next few holes, and even if it hadn't, Els was playing well enough to withstand all challenges.

Over the first three rounds he was seven-under par for the back-to-back par fives, the ninth and 10th, and yesterday he duly birdied the ninth.

He then hit an immense drive down the 10th, needed only an eight-iron for his second to 10 feet and holed the eagle putt.

"That," said Els, "gave me a cushion." It moved him to 17 under and no one got near him after that.

The only person, it transpired, who could have beaten Els was Els himself.

"I'd be lying," he said afterwards, "if I said I wasn't nervous before the start. But I tried to remind myself that I'd won by big margins before. I tried to have nothing but positive thoughts. I don't think I was scared in the sense of running away, of being frightened, but more of excitement, of anticipation."

The fact is, of course, that although Els is the world number five and with Tiger Woods one of the two most obviously talented players in the world, he has won far fewer tournaments in the last four years than his talent warrants.

He has not, for instance, won a major since the 1997 US Open, which means he has had 18 attempts at a championship without success, while in the same period Woods has won six.

This has eaten away at his confidence to such an extent that he has employed the Belgian sports psychologist, Jos Vanstiphout, to help inspire a more positive approach.

Yesterday Vanstiphout said: "I was amazed at the lack of belief he had in himself when he first came to me. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. But already he is getting better. I have told him I will bite his balls if he doesn't achieve his goals."

A few yards away Els, in the press interview area, was producing some comments of which Vanstiphout would have approved. Asked about his overall plans for 2002, Els said: "I played well in 2000 but Tiger was unbeatable that year. Now he's more beatable, he's not as dominant. This game has highs and lows and I feel I'm still getting to my highs.

"This was a very important win against a very good field on a very good golf course, and the fact that I won by five will also help."

Els won £136,000 and second-placed Howell took away £55,000. Howell, 11-under at the time, knew he needed an eagle at the 10th to get into real contention, but hit a terrible drive and had to settle for a par five.

Norman and Nick Faldo were jointly sixth, and the Englishman said: "It was good to show everyone I can still do it. It was a good day's work, it was good to be back on the leaderboard and my swing has taken a great leap forward."