Ernie Els hits form in time for Open defence

Ernie Els, who defends his Open Championship title next month, proved that he has hit form at exactly the right time with victory in the BMW International on Sunday.

The 43 year-old went into the Munich event having finished fourth in the US Open. The South African followed up that excellent showing with a one-stroke success over the Dane Thomas Bjorn. The fact that Els topped the leaderboard in all four rounds only added to his confidence, with the first round at Muirfield just 24 days away.

This was his first win since beating Adam Scott in such dramatic fashion at Lytham last July. “Obviously it gives me a lot of self-belief,” Els said, after his 69 for an 18-under total.

“Wire to wire you’ve got the pressure and every night you’ve got to sleep on it. This has been quite a week for me. There were a lot of strong players in this field. I’m really looking forward to Muirfield.” Isn’t he just. He won at the revered East Lothian links the last time the Open was held there in 2002.

Els has rededicated himself to his career in the last year, winning at the Open and then coming so close at Merion. The Big Easy could well become the first to retain the Claret Jug since Padraig Harrington in 2008.

But credit to Bjorn for making such a fight of it. He finished runner-up in his last outing, in Austria, and is fighting for his place in the Open on the mini-order of merit. He was left to rue a double-bogey on the 14th.

Bjorn had grabbed the lead on the sixth with three birdies in succession. “I got off to the start I needed and got in front, but the club that’s been great this week has been the driver and it let me down on the back nine,” Bjorn said, reflecting on that wild slash on the 14th which forced him to take an unplayable.

“But when you go up against Ernie, you’ve got to take it 18 holes to the end and I didn’t quite do that.”