Greatest Shots: Number Eight ... Ernie Els: 1997 US OpenOn the previous occasion that the US Open had been played at Congressional, all of 33 years earlier, Ken Venturi suffered from heat exhaustion and had a dazed look of a man who didn't know what was happening to him as he made the long walk down the final fairway on his way to victory.
In the 1997 US Open at Congressional, Colin Montgomerie was the man with that dazed look - but for an altogether different reason. After grimly hanging on for much of a hot Sunday afternoon, with the smell of a first major victory getting stronger as each hole progressed, Montgomerie saw his playing partner Ernie Els execute one of the most stunning pressure shots in the history of golf coming down the stretch in a major.
It was on the 17th hole, a dangerous hole on any normal day but especially so with a US Open title at stake. All day, Montgomerie and Els had locked horns and they stood level as they prepared to play the penultimate hole of regulation play in the championship. Water hugged the left of the fairway on the 480 yards par four hole and the green was a peninsula jutting out into the water. For good measure, the hole was cut in an impossibly tough location, just feet from the water's edge.
In the practice rounds, Els had played this same shot time after time (to where he expected the flag would be on Sunday), thinking that he would need it. He was right. First to play, and with Montgomerie watching and waiting for his turn, Els reached for a five-iron and, with that big lazy swing of his, propelled the approach shot 212 yards - skirting with the water - until it came to rest 12 feet from the flag and only yards from disaster. It was an incredible iron shot under the greatest of pressure.
Montgomerie had no reply and slipped from a share of the lead when missing a five-foot par putt that he called "probably the most important putt that I ever hit."
The tournament ended when Els knocked in a testy four-footer on the final hole to finish at four-under-par 276, one stroke ahead of Montgomerie and two better than Tom Lehman, in the match behind, who had also come to grief on the 17th.
For Montgomerie, it meant he now had two bitter seconds and a third in the Open since 1992 and, as now, was without that elusive major championships. "Yeah, I cried after the round, that's the emotion of the thing," Montgomerie said afterwards.
In addition to losing the 1994 US Open in a play-off to Els, the Scot also lost the 1995 US PGA in a play-off to Steve Elkington.
Montgomerie, who finished third in the 1992 US Open, hung with Els, his playing partner, by making seven consecutive pars on the back nine with some clutch putting. "If I knock on the door enough, as I seem to be doing, especially in this tournament, the door will open one day," Montgomerie said.
"I've just got to be patient." While the putt on the final hole ended the tournament, it was really the 17th that decided it. "Seventeen was probably the shot of the tournament for me," Els said.
"I'm unbelievably delighted. Winning US Opens doesn't come easy. I really worked hard for this one."
Returning to the course at 7 a.m. to complete the rain-delayed third round, Els made three birdies in the five holes he played, then shot a 69 in the final round. No one had a lower score on the day. His four-under-par effort for 23 holes on Sunday was a magnificent effort on a day when the field averaged nearly four over par.
"Funny things happen in majors," Els said. "You've just got to hang in there. At US Opens, you just try to make par."
At the end of the series, readers can vote for the Five Greatest Golf Shots Ever - the reader whose selections correspond with the shots selected by our Irish Times panel will enter a draw to win a custom fit Titleist 975J driver.
