Els crowns a superb year

ERNIE ELS survived a sudden attack of the jitters to win his fourth Cisco World Match Play title at Wentworth.

In his first appearance since the birth of his son Ben two weeks ago - and three days on from his own 33rd birthday - the Open champion made it a time of triple celebration by beating Sergio Garcia 2&1 in the 36-hole final. On Wednesday Els had said: ''I couldn't ask for a better year - win a major and a little boy comes along.'' Having sent Colin Montgomerie to his heaviest-ever defeat - 6&5 - in the quarter-finals and then seeing off Vijay Singh, Els appeared to be cruising at five up after 12 and three up with six to play.

But with the winning line in sight he visited two bunkers and the crowd on the 31st and double-bogeyed it, then badly pulled a four-foot putt to bogey the next.

Garcia, now only one down, had a real opportunity, but the 22-year-old could not take match. He hooked his drive at the 34th and after two hacks - one of them left-handed - he conceded the hole, then was twice in the trees on the 571-yard next.

Els did not have to putt again and so moved one behind Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros, both of whom lifted the trophy five times in their careers.

''Sergio always keeps it interesting,'' he said. ''He is so talented. I was not putting well - I guess I made all my putts against Colin - and I felt pretty down when I missed that one to be only one-up.

''But to win this title again now means even more because of where I live. It's become home.'' His British base is beside the 16th hole of the West Course.

Els' success, however, came only after a puzzling concession by the Spaniard early in their 36-hole final.

Match referee John Paramor was as surprised as anyone on the 396-yard seventh when Garcia told Els to pick up his marker when there was still a chance he could halve the hole.

The only European to make it into the last four missed the green and then saw his chip fail to make it up the tier and roll back towards him about 60 feet from the flag.

He needed to hole the putt for his par, but with Els six feet away in two he did not try and walked to the next tee.

That was strange, but Els' start was simply brilliant.

Els' outward 30 in the morning matched his start against Montgomerie on Friday, when he went on to break the championship record with a 12 under par round of 60.