Ernie Els wins Honda Classic

This time, Ernie Els could enjoy someone else's final-round misfortune.

Ending nearly a four-year drought between PGA Tour victories, Els shot a 3-under 67 Sunday to win The Honda Classic. He finished at 6 under, one shot better than Luke Donald (71) and two ahead of Nathan Green (67).

"It's been a long time coming," Els said.

Els and Mark Calcavecchia were tied for the lead as the sun began setting on PGA National. But Calcavecchia hit into a greenside bunker at the par-3 15th, and his shot from the sand looked fine when it hit the green.

Somehow, it never stopped rolling.

The ball came to rest on a rock ledge across the green. Calcavecchia walked over, tossed the ball into the water and made a double bogey to give Els the outright lead. Els made a cool par on the par-5 finishing hole, then waited to see if anyone would match his score.

No one did, although Donald had a chance on the last. His birdie chip from just off the green stopped a couple feet shy of the cup, sealing Els' win.

And with that, Els got the huge shot of confidence that he's sought for so long, along with his first PGA Tour win since the 2004 American Express Championship in Ireland. Plus, he'll jump a spot to third in the world rankings, passing Steve Stricker.

"I really played pretty well today," Els said...

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Honda Classic - Day 1 wrap

uke Donald's opening round in The Honda Classic was far from perfect. He missed five greens and seven fairways, including five straight on the back nine.

And conditions at windy, cool PGA National were hardly optimal for scoring.

Yet somehow, Donald found a way to post the Honda's best score in three years.

A bogey-free 64 Thursday gave Donald a one-shot lead over Brian Davis and a two-shot edge on Matt Jones after the first round of the Honda — an event Donald won two years ago when it was at nearby Mirasol, a considerably easier track.

"I did a lot of good things around the greens and when I had my chances I took them," Donald said. "I didn't drive it particularly well. I need to improve that. I probably hit only half the fairways, which is not quite good enough. Apart from that, everything was very good."

Donald posted the lowest round at a Honda since Padraig Harrington shot a final-round 63 to win in 2005 at Mirasol, and the 64 was the best in 704 tournament rounds since the event moved to PGA National — where Mark Wilson's winning score a year ago was 5 under. Wilson shot a 73 on Thursday.

"Golf is just a tough game sometimes," Donald said. "It sometimes gets you down, and we've all been there before, but luckily right now I feel pretty confident about my game. I feel confident about where I'm heading, and I'm definitely going the right direction."

He wasn't alone in feeling that way.

Matt Jones (66) was alone in third, two shots off the pace, with a slew of others — including Ernie Els, the world's No. 4 player — three shots back. Els was one of only 10 players to make birdie at the arduous, 508-yard, par-4 10th, which was his first hole of the day.

"This is really my first full event, so to speak, of the year over here, so I needed to get off to a good start," said Els, whose PGA Tour campaign for 2008 began with a first-round exit last week in the Accenture Match Play. "I was a little nervy this morning to force myself to get off to a good start, and I've had that now, so I can start building on that."

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