Ernie Els shoots 65, wins Principal Charity Classic by two strokes | Sports

Els sank a pair of birdies on the front nine, then warmed up on the back with three more. He also birdied the par-5 13th to give him some breathing room.

“It’s very special,” said Els, who entered the Charity Main Classic 16th in the Schwab Cup standings through eight events. “We haven’t won in a while. We had a lot of chances, but it gets harder when you don’t get over the line.”

Feeling the push from second-ranked and defending Canadian champion Stephen Ames (66 on Sunday) and others, Els emphasized the importance of his timely success on the 13th.

“I was lucky enough to birdie the 11th,” he said. “I didn’t hit a very good approach, I hit a good putt. And then 12, but 13 was big. To make the eagle late on the back nine, that was key. It put me up by two shots.”

Els, who will take home $300,000, has three top-10 finishes this season.

After the front nine, Els, Ames, Germany’s Bernhard Langer and Australia’s Rod Pampling were tied for the lead. Pampling and Els had shared the lead after Saturday’s second round.

Ames, who had four birdies and a bogey on the front nine, birdied No. 10 and 11 before adding a birdie on No. 15. But with Els’ success on the back nine, Ames couldn’t catch up and finished at 19-under 197.

“I changed a few things in my routine and it kind of kicked things off for me, we started feeling the putts a lot better,” said Ames, who felt his swing was off at the event and had his first putting lesson in this week. “I hit some really good putts at the end and all week, so I was really happy with that result.”

Pampling (69), David Duval (67) and Langer (68) finished in a three-way tie for third at 17 under.

Fiji’s Vijay Singh (68) and Heath Slocum (67) tied for sixth at 16 under.