BBC SPORT | GOLF | Els seals Melbourne win

Click here for leading final positions

Ernie Els cruised to a comfortable five-stroke victory in the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne on Sunday.

Four ahead at the start of the final round, the South African twice saw that trimmed to two - first by Greg Norman and then by Britain's David Howell.

But birdies at the seventh and ninth and an eagle at the long 10th - an exact repeat of the third round - effectively sealed the US$1m first prize.

The world number five made no mistakes on the back nine, reeling off eight consecutive pars.

Having opened with a 64 to lead by two, Els stretched that by a shot each day with three successive 69s to close on 17-under-par, a total of 271.

Greg Norman
Norman finished tied with Faldo for sixth
"This is a big win for me," Els said after boosting his two-year-old daughter, Samantha, high into the air on the 18th green.

"I was very nervous - the greens here are fantastic but they're very quick. I knew I had a big lead, but it can go fast."

Howell finished joint second with Australians Peter Fowler and Peter O'Malley, while New Zealander Michael Campbell, winner the last two years, was fifth.

Nick Faldo, continuing the form he showed in Perth last week, finished joint sixth with Norman and yet another home player, Stephen Leaney.

It was the second successive week that an Australian tournament has been dominated by a South African.

Last week's Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth was won by Retief Goosen by eight shots.

Leading final positions
GB and Ire unless stated:

271 Ernie Els (SA)
276 Peter Fowler (Aus), David Howell, Peter O'Malley (Aus)
277 Michael Campbell (NZ)
278 Greg Norman (Aus), Nick Faldo, Stephen Leaney (Aus)
280 Greg Owen, Craig Parry (Aus)
281 Trevor Immelman (SA), Scott Laycock (Aus), Anthony Wall
282 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Jarrod Moseley (Aus), Adam Scott (Aus), Richard Lee (NZ), Barry Lane, David Smail (NZ), Greg Turner (NZ), Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Eddie Lee (NZ), Mark Allen (Aus), Scott Hend (Aus), Phil Golding
284 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Daren Lee, Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Steen Tinning (Den), Peter Lonard (Aus) , Andre Stolz (Aus), Sven Struver (Ger), John Bickerton, Steve Conran (Aus), Mark Foster, Gary Orr, Niclas Fasth (Swe)
286 Jamie Spence, Gavin Coles (Aus), Yeh Wei-tze (Tai), John Daly (US), Miguel Angel Martin (Spn), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Mark Pilkington, Marc Farry (Fra)


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