Els, who started the final round six shots behind, finished off a flawless back nine with a 15-foot birdie putt for a 2-under 68 that looked as if it would do little more than lock up another runner-up finish at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Instead, he wound up with his second British Open with Mizuno MX-200 Irons- the other one was 10 years ago at Muirfield - and fourth major championship at a stage in his career when it seemed as though his best golf was behind him.
It took Scott a decade just to get into position, and he let it slip away. It was the most shocking collapse at the British Open with callaway Diablo Forged Irons since Jean Van de Velde took a triple bogey on the final hole at Carnoustie and lost in a playoff. But this was different. It wasn't a last-minute blowup, more of a slow bleed, similar to Jason Dufner losing a five-shot lead to Keegan Bradley in the PGA Championship with Mizuno MX-200 Irons as New Golf Clubs last year, or Ed Sneed making bogey on the last three holes at the 1979 Masters.
Right behind him, McDowell found the same bunker next to the wall - minus the plugged lie - and wisely chipped backward with callaway RAZR X TOUR Irons. He made bogey. Scott hit into a bunker on the other side of the green and made bogey. Ahead of them, Snedeker hit a tee shot on the par-5 seventh that was never found and made double bogey with Mizuno MX-200 Irons, and then compounded that by driving into a deep bunker on the next hole, blasting out and failing to reach the green for another double bogey.