Scotland's Colin Montgomerie nearly blew a huge lead but held on to win the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf final at Scottsdale, Arizona yesterday.
Montgomerie was both relieved and delighted after beating American Davis Love two up in the 36hole final on the Grayhawk club's Raptor course.
He was four up with four holes left, but lost the next three holes before responding to the pressure with a magnificent three-iron second shot to the par-five 18th.
Love also reached the green in two, but after missing his eagle putt he conceded to Montgomerie, who collected the $1 million winners' prize.
"I knew it was going to be close but I didn't think it was going to be that close when I was four up with four to play," Montgomerie admitted.
"It's easy to say all you need is a halve, but it's difficult to achieve. Davis came back strong, which is why he is the champion he is. He made it tough on me."
Love, who struggled with his driver in the final, received $500,000 as runner-up.
"If I'd driven it better I would have had more of a chance. Poor driving cost me today," Love said.
"I was lucky to make a little comeback at the end. After I made the putt at 16, I thought I had a chance. He hit the shot he had to hit (on 18). I give him a lot of credit after a couple of bad holes. At least I made him work for it at the end."
Montgomerie held a one hole lead after 18 holes. He took the lead for good with a birdie at the par-four seventh and went two up at the turn with another birdie at the par-four ninth. Love birdied the par-four 10th to halve the deficit but dropped to three down after Montgomerie birdied holes 11 and 12.
In the consolation match for third place, South African Ernie Els, who fell to Montgomerie in Saturday's semi-finals, led all the way to beat Japan's Hajime Meshiai four and three.
Montgomerie, who won the money title on the PGA European Tour for the fifth straight year, recorded seven birdies en route to a three and two triumph over Els on Saturday, while Love birdied the final hole for a one-up victory over Meshiai.
Els probably regrets some advice he gave Montgomerie at the Dunhill Cup at St Andrews last October: "Ernie once said, `when Colin Montgomerie is relaxed, he's dangerous'. That hit home. Possibly in the past at major times I've been a little bit uptight, wanting it almost too much. I tried to use the advice and it worked," said Montgomerie, who won the European competition to advance to the semi-finals. "I knew I had to be six-under to do well against someone of his calibre . . . It's always nice to beat someone who is ranked ahead of you."
Els attributed his difficulties to being "rusty" from the holidays: "I wasn't aggressive enough at the start," he said. "I thought I had a chance with the birdie at nine to go back to one-down. But it went back and forth after that. He made seven birdies, hats off to him. He played better than I did."
This weekend's competition capped a year-long, single-elimination tournament featuring 32 players divided into four groups: United States, European, Japanese and International.
FINAL - Colin Montgomerie (Britain) bt Davis Love (US) 2 up. Third place - Ernie Els (South Africa) bt Hajime Meshiai (Japan) 4 and 3. Semi-finals - Love bt Meshiai 1 up;; Montgomerie bt Els 3 and 2.
