Els ichnes closer to victory

13 Mar 2010 - 10:18:31

Ernie Els is without a major win since the 2002 Open and without a single Tour win in his last 54 events stretching back more than two years.

But the 40-year-old South African can fix the second of those in Miami on Sunday and, if he does, the odds on him making it 17th time lucky at The Masters next month will come tumbling down.

Els, runner-up at Augusta to Vijay Singh in 2000 and Phil Mickelson in 2004, took a one-stroke lead over Australian Robert Allenby into the third round of the WGC-CA Championship at Doral.

Allenby holed-in-one at the 13th in the second round - with the five-wood he used when he had an ace at the World Match Play in Spain last October - and has been on a real rollercoaster ride so far.

Three eagles and 12 birdies have been mixed with seven bogeys and a double bogey in 36 holes.

At nine under he is two ahead of third-placed pair Bill Haas and Charl Schwartzel, while Padraig Harrington and Soren Hansen are one further back in joint fifth.

Paul Casey resumed three under, Lee Westwood and Graeme McDowell two under, but Luke Donald, Simon Dyson and Ross Fisher were one over, Ross McGowan three over, Rory McIlroy five over and Ian Poulter 65th of the 68 players at six over.

Last month's World Match Play champion has been suffering from a bad neck, however, and admitted he nearly withdrew before the start.