Ernie Els
No Year Tournament Opponent ( s ) Result
1 1994 U.S. Open Colin Montgomerie , Loren Roberts Won with par on second extra hole after 18-hole playoff : ( Els:74 , Roberts:74 , Montgomerie:78 )
2 2000 Mercedes Championships Tiger Woods Lost to birdie on second extra hole
3 2001 The Tour Championship Sergio García , David Toms , Mike Weir Weir won with birdie on first extra hole
4 2002 The Open Championship Stuart Appleby , Steve Elkington , Thomas Levet Won with par on first extra hole after four-hole aggregate playoff : Els 4-3-5-4=16 ( E ) , Levet 4-2-5-5=16 ( E ) , Appleby 4-3-5-5=17 ( +1 ) , Elkington 5-3-4-5=17 ( +1 )
5 2003 Sony Open in Hawaii Aaron Baddeley Won with birdie on second extra hole
6 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii Harrison Frazar Won with birdie on third extra hole
7 2004 The Open Championship Todd Hamilton Lost four-hole aggregate playoff : Hamilton 4-4-3-4=15 ( E ) , Els 4-4-4-4=16 ( +1 )
8 2012 Zurich Classic of New Orleans Jason Dufner Lost to birdie on second extra hole
Professional wins ( 71 ) -- PGA Tour wins ( 19 )
Legend Major championships ( 4 ) World Golf Championships ( 2 ) Other PGA Tour ( 13 ) No . Date Tournament Winning score Margin ofvictory Runner ( s ) -up 1 20 Jun 1994 U.S. Open −5 ( 69-71-66-73=279 ) Playoff Colin Montgomerie , Loren Roberts 2 14 May 1995 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic −17 ( 69-61-65-68=263 ) 3 strokes Robin Freeman , Mike Heinen , D. A. Weibring 3 9 Jun 1996 Buick Classic −13 ( 65-66-69-71=271 ) 8 strokes Steve Elkington , Tom Lehman , Jeff Maggert , Craig Parry 4 15 Jun 1997 U.S. Open ( 2 ) −4 ( 71-67-69-69=276 ) 1 stroke Colin Montgomerie 5 22 Jun 1997 Buick Classic ( 2 ) −16 ( 64-68-67-69=268 ) 2 strokes Jeff Maggert 6 22 Mar 1998 Bay Hill Invitational −14 ( 67-69-65-73=274 ) 4 strokes Bob Estes , Jeff Maggert 7 21 Feb 1999 Nissan Open −14 ( 68-66-68-68=270 ) 2 strokes Davis Love III , Ted Tryba , Tiger Woods 8 6 Aug 2000 The International 48 points ( 15-19-6-8=48 ) 4 points Phil Mickelson 9 3 Mar 2002 Genuity Championship −17 ( 66-67-66-72=271 ) 2 strokes Tiger Woods 10 21 Jul 2002 The Open Championship −6 ( 70-66-72-70=278 ) Playoff Stuart Appleby , Steve Elkington , Thomas Levet 11 12 Jan 2003 Mercedes Championships −31 ( 64-65-65-67=261 ) 8 strokes K. J. Choi , Rocco Mediate 12 19 Jan 2003 Sony Open in Hawaii −16 ( 66-65-66-67=264 ) Playoff Aaron Baddeley 13 18 Jan 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii ( 2 ) −18 ( 67-64-66-65=262 ) Playoff Harrison Frazar 14 6 Jun 2004 Memorial Tournament −18 ( 68-70-66-66=270 ) 4 strokes Fred Couples 15 3 Oct 2004 WGC-American Express Championship −18 ( 69-64-68-69=270 ) 1 stroke Thomas Bjørn 16 2 Mar 2008 Honda Classic −6 ( 67-70-70-67=274 ) 1 stroke Luke Donald 17 14 Mar 2010 WGC-CA Championship ( 2 ) −18 ( 68-66-70-66=270 ) 4 strokes Charl Schwartzel 18 29 Mar 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational ( 2 ) −11 ( 68-69-69-71=277 ) 2 strokes Edoardo Molinari , Kevin Na 19 22 Jul 2012 The Open Championship ( 2 ) −7 ( 67-70-68-68=273 ) 1 stroke Adam Scott PGA Tour playoff record ( 4–4 )
Theodore Ernest Els (/ˈɛls/; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is known as The Big Easy due to his imposing physical stature (he stands 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his 71 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship. Other highlights in Els' career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times. He was the leading career money winner on the European Tour until overtaken by Lee Westwood in 2011, and was the first member of the tour to earn over €25,000,000 from European Tour events. He has held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and until 2013 held the record for weeks ranked in the top ten with 788. Els rose to fifteenth in the world rankings after winning the 2012 Open Championship. He was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, on his first time on the ballot, and was inducted in May 2011. When not playing, Els has a golf course design business, a charitable foundation which supports golf among underprivileged youth in South Africa, and a highly regarded winemaking business. He has written a popular golf instructional column in Golf Digest magazine for several years.