2004 Recap & Results

Memorial Tournament Winner - Ernie Els

Dates

May 31 - June 6

Purse

$5,250,000

Par

36-36=72

Yardage

7,265

Ernie Els Wins the 2004 Memorial Tournament

On Sunday evening at the 2004 Memorial Tournament, Ernie Els capped a nearly flawless weekend by making birdie at the 72nd hole to card a second straight round of 6-under 66 to win his first Memorial Tournament by four strokes over Fred Couples. Els, who began Sunday at Muirfield Village Golf Club with a two-stroke lead, held off an impressive leaderboard that included Couples, Tiger Woods, Justin Rose, and K.J. Choi to earn his 14th victory on the PGA TOUR.

Els, the South African native with 3 major championship titles coming into the 2004 Memorial, became only the fourth non-American winner in the 29-year history of the Memorial Tournament. Els also became the first player in Memorial Tournament history to hold at least a share of the first-round lead that went on to win the event.

Though Els had a great ball-striking week, there was no question as to what facet of his game won the tournament for him - putting.

"I made almost every putt that I had to make," said Els, who took only 100 putts in the four rounds, a new Memorial Tournament record. "It/s tough to call just one a key putt."

Though Els won by four strokes, the final round was much tighter than it appears by glancing at the final results. Els dropped out of the lead with a bogey at the par-3 fourth, while Couples chipped in for birdie at the same hole to take a one-shot lead at 12-under, marking his fifth chip-in for birdie or eagle of the Tournament. Els responded by making birdie at the next hole to join Couples in the lead. Moments later, a charging Tiger Woods joined the pair at 12-under after he birdied holes 4, 5, and 7.

Woods run ended there, as he could only par-out from that point forward to finish at 12-under. Els and Couples continued to battle back and forth on the back-nine, with Els taking a three shot lead after the 10th hole and Couples fighting back to within one shot after back to back birdies at the 11th and 12th holes. Though Couples would stay close, he never caught Els, who began a barrage of clutch putts starting at the 12th green after Couples made his birdie.

Els made a 10-footer at the 12th hole to save par and keep the lead. He followed it with a 30-footer on the next hole to regain his two-stroke lead. Els made a 15-foot par putt as part of a terrific up-and-down at the par-3 16th to maintain a two-stroke lead with two holes to play. Both men birdied the 17th giving Els a two stroke lead going into the final hole, where Couples made bogey and Els rolled in his birdie putt for a four shot victory. Couples knew there was little he could do the way that Ernie was playing.

"I was right there the whole time," said Couples. "That's a great feeling for me. I was second, but lost to the best player by far. He just turned it on during the back nine."

Els also acknowledged that he played about as well as he ever has on Sunday at the Memorial and that he couldn't be happier.

"It means a lot. It's not quite like any other tournament," said Els after his victory. "It's got a little more prestige to it, especially with Jack Nicklaus as the host. And if you look at the winners roll, there has been quite a few great champions. I'm just so happy the way everything finished off."

# Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Total Purse
1 Ernie Els 68 70 66 66 270 $945,000
2 Fred Couples 69 69 68 68 274 $567,000
3 Tiger Woods 72 68 67 69 276 $357,000
4 Justin Rose 70 67 69 71 277 $252,000
5 K.J. Choi 71 67 68 72 278 $210,000
6 Stephen Ames 69 68 70 72 279 $182,438
7 Kenny Perry 72 72 66 69 279 $182,438
8 Ben Curtis 68 69 73 72 282 $152,250
9 Retief Goosen 70 72 69 71 282 $152,250
10 Jay Haas 70 72 69 71 282 $152,250
11 John Daly 72 69 73 69 283 $111,300
12 Stephen Leaney 71 71 71 70 283 $111,300
13 J.L. Lewis 70 72 70 71 283 $111,300
14 Peter Lonard 71 73 70 69 283 $111,300
15 Rory Sabbatini 71 71 71 70 283 $111,300
16 Jerry Kelly 74 70 70 70 284 $84,000
17 Davis Love III 70 73 72 69 284 $84,000
18 Tom Pernice,Jr. 73 71 71 69 284 $84,000
19 John Cook 71 74 71 69 285 $65,888
20 Brad Faxon 72 74 71 68 285 $65,888
21 Tim Herron 76 71 66 72 285 $65,888
22 Scott McCarron 72 69 75 69 285 $65,888
23 Harrison Frazar 73 72 69 72 286 $54,600
24 Chad Campbell 72 73 74 68 287 $39,725
25 Chris DiMarco 71 74 72 70 287 $39,725
26 Dan Forsman 73 73 67 74 287 $39,725
27 Sergio Garcia 73 69 72 73 287 $39,725
28 Zach Johnson 69 73 70 75 287 $39,725
29 Tom Lehman 74 69 73 71 287 $39,725
30 Geoff Ogilvy 74 68 71 74 287 $39,725
31 Ted Purdy 74 70 72 71 287 $39,725
32 Vijay Singh 73 72 71 71 287 $39,725
33 Robert Allenby 74 74 74 66 288 $27,150
34 Steve Flesch 72 73 72 71 288 $27,150
35 Todd Hamilton 69 70 73 76 288 $27,150
36 Lee Janzen 69 73 72 74 288 $27,150
37 Jeff Sluman 70 73 73 72 288 $27,150
38 Kevin Sutherland 71 70 72 75 288 $27,150
39 Hidemichi Tanaka 73 75 72 68 288 $27,150
40 Rich Beem 71 71 72 75 289 $19,950
41 Stewart Cink 70 74 75 70 289 $19,950
42 Tim Clark 73 75 69 72 289 $19,950
43 Padraig Harrington 71 74 74 70 289 $19,950
44 Tim Petrovic 75 69 71 74 289 $19,950
45 John Rollins 69 74 74 72 289 $19,950
46 Mark Hensby 74 74 73 69 290 $14,553
47 Trevor Immelman 73 73 69 75 290 $14,553
48 Shigeki Maruyama 71 71 76 72 290 $14,553
49 Len Mattiace 70 73 73 74 290 $14,553
50 Jesper Parnevik 75 71 74 70 290 $14,553
51 Briny Baird 76 69 71 75 291 $12,521
52 Niclas Fasth 75 70 73 73 291 $12,521
53 Jeff Maggert 73 69 76 73 291 $12,521
54 Nick Price 74 73 72 72 291 $12,521
55 Tommy Armour III 72 72 72 76 292 $11,813
56 Keiichiro Fukabori 72 74 74 72 292 $11,813
57 Skip Kendall 77 71 69 75 292 $11,813
58 Rocco Mediate 71 73 73 75 292 $11,813
59 Arron Oberholser 69 74 72 77 292 $11,813
60 Brenden Pappas 73 74 72 73 292 $11,813
61 Hunter Mahan 74 70 75 74 293 $11,445
62 Mark Calcavecchia 74 72 73 75 294 $11,340
63 Billy Andrade 71 73 75 76 295 $11,130
64 Stuart Appleby 73 74 70 78 295 $11,130
65 Jack Nicklaus 74 73 77 71 295 $11,130
66 Woody Austin 73 74 78 72 297 $10,815
67 Paul Azinger 69 74 78 76 297 $10,815
68 Craig Parry 71 72 79 75 297 $10,815
69 Aaron Baddeley 74 74 78 72 298 $10,553
70 Shaun Micheel 73 73 80 72 298 $10,553
71 Frank Lickliter II 71 75 73 80 299 $10,343
72 Corey Pavin 71 75 76 77 299 $10,343
73 Thomas Bjorn 71 76 78 75 300 $10,133
74 Darren Fichardt 70 78 74 78 300 $10,133
75 Hirofumi Miyase 73 75 77 78 303 $9,975

Leaders

First Round
Ernie Els and Ben Curtis shared the lead at 4-under 68. Eight players trailed by one.

Second Round
Justin Rose, Curtis and Stephen Ames sat at 7-under 137, one ahead of K.J. Choi, Fred Couples and Els. Todd Hamilton was two back.

Third Round
Els moved to 12-under 204, two ahead of Couples, Choi and Rose. Tiger Woods and Ames were three behind.

Notes

Cut Notes:

76 players at 4-over-par 148 from a field of 105 professionals

Missed Cut:

Arjun Atwal (77-76-MC), Jonathan Byrd (80-76-MC), Alex Cejka (78-73-MC), Ben Crane (78-75-MC), Luke Donald (78-72-MC), Nick Flanagan (78-73-MC), Fred Funk (75-75-MC), Robert Gamez (77-73-MC), Mathias Gronberg (70-71-MC), Charles Howell III (71-78-MC), Thongchai Jaidee (72-79-MC), Jonathan Kaye (78-72-MC), Hank Kuehne (75-74-MC), Justin Leonard (74-76-MC), Mark O`Meara (72-82-MC), Joe Ogilvie (74-77-MC), Rod Pampling (79-71-MC), Bo Van Pelt (76-75-MC), Craig Perks (74-76-MC), Joey Sindelar (76-73-MC), Heath Slocum (74-77-MC), Brandt Snedeker (75-74-MC), Kirk Triplett (75-77-MC), Bob Tway (73-80-MC), Lian-wei Zhang (77-77-MC), Duffy Waldorf (76-80-MC), Steve David Edwards (W/D), Elkington (W/D), Dudley Hart (W/D), Andre Stolz (W/D).

Weather:

Thursday, a mix of sun and clouds with temperatures in the mid-70s and some higher winds. A little cooler and cloudier on Friday and Saturday. Similar conditions on Sunday with temperatures a touch warmer.

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