By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DUBLIN, Ohio - The best player never to have won the Memorial Tournament won it Sunday.

South African Ernie Els blitzed gallery favorite Fred Couples (he had the longest, loudest applause all day) and CBS favorite Tiger Woods for a four-stroke victory at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Woods was not in control of his tee shots on the back nine, shooting 36 to Els' 32.

"The tour kind of changed when Tiger came out," Els admitted. "Players played differently, the level came up and I wasn't quite with it (in the late 1990s). I think my swing wasn't nearly what it is now. ... I'm a little bit more of a changed player now."

How does 66-66 (12-under par) for the weekend sound? Els said his 66 Saturday was the easier of the two, and that his 66 Sunday was of the "working man's" variety in that he had to make so many chips and par-saves to stay ahead of Couples and Woods. Els shot 18-under-par 270 for the four days. Couples shot 68 for a 274; Woods shot 69 for a 276.

"He's got all the talent in the world," Woods said of Els. "It was just a matter of time before he put it all together on this golf course. It was just a matter of time before he was going to win."

Els said Saturday that his two-stroke lead going into Sunday's round might be gone by the third hole, and he wasn't far off. It was gone by the fourth hole. Couples, his playing partner, birdied three and four.

"I was a little bit tight - I'm not going to kid you," Els said. "If you look at the field chasing me and knowing there were 18 tough holes here - there's no letup holes anymore - I felt it a bit."

By the sixth and seventh holes, Woods, Els and Couples were in a three-way tie for the lead at 12 under. That was the score with Couples and Els through six holes and Woods through seven. Woods was 3-under par, Couples 2-under and Els even.

Then Els got hot.

He birdied the seventh hole with a terrific chip from the right rough on the par-5 No. 7 and sunk a downhill, sliding 7-footer for birdie.

"That kind of got me back into it," Els said. "If I had missed that, I maybe could have lost my composure a little bit."

That put him at 13 under.

Playing two holes ahead, Woods could manage only par despite what appeared for him to be a very makeable 20-footer. He two-putted.

"I could tell by looking at the numbers on the computer before I teed off that a lot of guys were shooting four or five under, so there were plenty of birdies to be made out there," Woods said. "If those guys were making a lot of birdies, we were going to have to do the same to win the tournament."

Els hit his tee shot to within 10 feet on the par-3 eighth, and Couples turned his tee shot over into the crowd on the left but managed par with another fine chip. Els' birdie made it 14 under to Woods' and Couples' 12 under.

On the par-5 11th, Woods' tee shot flew into the woods right. The best he could manage was par. Bye-bye birdie. ... and bye-bye Tiger.

"I was three-under on the front and I thought if I was three under on the back it might force a playoff, but it looks like Ernie is playing too well for that," Woods said.

Els birdied No. 10 with an 8-footer for a three-shot lead over Woods, Couples and Justin Rose.

Ball game.

Couples played tough Sunday. He birdied No. 11 and No. 12 to cut the deficit to one, but Els' great up-and-down par from the rough behind the green on No. 11 kept him steady and his 35-footer for birdie on No. 13 put his lead back at two.

"After Freddie made that putt on No. 12 - it was the loudest corner of the golf course; everybody was out there - I had a slider, left to right, 10 feet, for par and made it," Els said. "Thirteen was a key putt, too. I kept thinking Freddie was going to run out of steam, but he kept coming."

Finally, Els ended the suspense with a 9 iron to three feet for birdie at No. 17, and even though Couples dropped in a birdie from just off the green, there was no catching Els.

"I said 'great shot' to him" on No. 17," Couples said. "I got used to saying that out there (Sunday). ... There weren't many 66s shot this week, and he shot two on the weekend. That's fantastic stuff."

Final results

Ernie Els	68-70-66-66	-18
Fred Couples	69-69-68-68	-14
Tiger Woods	72-68-67-69	-12
Justin Rose	70-67-69-71	-11
K.J. Choi	71-67-68-72	-10
Kenny Perry	72-72-66-69	-9
Stephen Ames	69-68-70-72	-9
Retief Goosen	70-72-69-71	-6
Jay Haas	70-72-69-71	-6
Ben Curtis	68-69-73-72	-6

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E-mail jerardi@enquirer.com