The 'Big Easy', who has given himself three years to surpass Tiger Woods at No 1 in the world, stormed to victory in Sunday's final round of the SAA Open with a blistering 7-under 65 that blew away the challenge posed by overnight leader Trevor Immelman.

Immelman, a two time SA Open winner and voted rookie of the year on the US PGA Tour this season, had started the day three shots in front of Els after firing a course-record 63 at a milder than usual Humewood Golf Club on Saturday and was certainly seen as a major threat to his older compatriot.

With this victory, the World No 8 and three-time major winner secured his 62nd title and his 4th South African Open championship with a fine mixture of course management wisdom and a new found aggression on a difficult (for the others in the field), blustery day in windy Port Elizabeth.

His single bogey round contained three birdies on the front nine and another five coming down the home stretch and gave no one else a chance as he blazed home with a new SA Open tournament record.

His 24-under 263 surpassed the previous mark of 21-under set by Tony Johnstone in 1993 when a much younger Els was second.

It also ensured that he continued to boast a victory at least once every year since 1992.

Immelman never gave up his losing battle against an Els at his best, but the pressure told and in the end he could only muster a 71 - eight shots more than he posted on Saturday - to finish on 21-under and alone in second place.

Sweden's 2nd round leader Patrik Sjoland was third on 20-under.

It's perhaps some indication of just how hot the pace was on the final days that 4th placed Darren Fichardt, an established wind specialist, was four shots behind Sjoland and eight behind Els while World No 7 Retief Goosen, the first round leader, was a further shot back in a a three-way tie with Louis Oosthuizen and best of the Brits, Andrew Raitt of England who each shot a 15-under 273.

Lee Westwood was a further shot back in joint 8th place with Charl Schwartzel sharing 9th.

Els' joy at finally breaking his duck was plain to see as he sprayed champagne all over the press contingent to celebrate after coming off the course.

"I had to go out there today and play positive," Els admitted, "I didn't really have much choice, especially with Trevor carding a 63 on Saturday.

"I don't know, but on the range last night I found something in my swing and I was very comfortable. I was glad to see a breeze here this morning and it added a little more to the game."

Els added that he had adopted a matchplay strategy which paid off handsomely.

"My game plan was to draw level by the ninth hole and as it turned out I was already ahead by then.

"I was hitting a number of good shots but not getting the birdies until I sunk a putt on 12 and that made me a lot more confident."

Immelman shrugged his shoulders afterwards and gave credit to Els, who he said was a very worthy champion.

"I tried my best, but it was simply not my day," Immelman said afterwards.

"There are a lot of positives that I will take out of this. I have had a great weekend and posted a few good scores and this is definitely great preparation for the PGA Tour next year.

"I was coming out to shoot in the 60s, so it wasn't as if I was trying to protect a lead. I wanted to play some good golf out there. But at the end it wasn't good enough against a guy of his calibre."

The much-anticipated duel between Els and Immelman did not appear after the latter struggled in the late morning wind, while Els was simply on song.

Immelman started three shots up after a course record 63 in the third round, but when the wind picked up it seemed he did not have quite the same Midas touch..

Elsn in the meantime was quickly off the mark on the first really windy morning of the tournament.

The Big Easy had picked up birdies on two and five to close the gap to one stroke before a fatal error by Immelman on the sixth allowed the blond former world number one to take the lead, and subsequently control of the tournament.

Els put his tee shot within four feet of the pin on the par three as he upped the ante. Immelman by contrast caught a gust of wind that sent his ball right onto the lip of the green and rolled off into the bunker.

Immelman's chip onto the green rolled some eight feet past the hole and he two-putted to take the bogey.

Els, as calm as the weather on the first three days, birdied to move into the lead with a two-shot swing on the hole.

From there on it was simply all Els as the tournament built up to its climax.

Els carried on relatively quietly for the next five holes but was stung back into action by a birdie on 11 from Immelman which cut the lead to one.

Els then birdied 12 and 13 to take him three out in front once again.

Three straight birdies between 14 and 16 sealed it as Els cruised home to a cheering crowd and Immelman never had a chance to catch him, despite birdies on 15 and 17.

Els eventually sent his approach on the 18th onto the lip of the bunker and his chip was short, leaving himself two putts - and a bogey - to clinch the title.

But he admitted that it was as good as he could have played.

"I can't really do much better than this," he said with a smile, "It was just a pity about the last hole.

"I had a strange day in that I first had to catch up, then did, and then had to play aggressively while protecting a lead. If Trevor sunk some putts today it could have been very different." ALL THE FINAL SCORES

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72 (x) denotes amateurs):

264 Ernie Els (Rsa) 67 66 66 65

267 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 67 66 63 71

268 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 68 64 69 67

272 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 72 67 65 68

273 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 65 70 67, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 66 68 70, Andrew Raitt 67 68 68 70

274 Gary Lockerbie 72 66 70 65, Lee Westwood 68 68 68 70

275 Robert Rock 70 68 69 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 71 68 68 68, Lee James 71 69 67 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 69 65 70

276 Jaco van Zyl (Rsa) 71 65 72 68

277 Ross Fisher 70 69 66 70

278 Richard Finch 71 71 70 66, Justin Walters 73 67 61 67, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 69 68 73 68, Lee Slattery 71 70 69 68, Bradford Vaughn (Rsa) 70 68 71 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 75 65 69 69, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 73 69 66 70, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 68 69 72

279 Sam Walker 72 69 72 66, Benn Barham 71 71 68 69, Alan McLean 69 68 71 71

280 Nic Henning (Rsa) 71 68 70 71, Keith Horne (Rsa) 73 68 68 71, Carl Suneson (Spa) 67 76 65 72, Edward Rush 70 67 70 73

281 James Heath 70 70 74 67, Mattias Eliasson (Swe) 75 69 70 67, Chris Swanepoel (Rsa) 73 70 70 68, Juan Parron (Spa) 71 72 70 68, Eirik Johansen (Swe) 75 66 71 69, Tongoona Charamba (Zim) 75 69 67 70, Des Terblanche (Rsa) 68 70 71 72, Steve Basson (Rsa) 71 69 69 72, David Frost (Rsa) 72 69 68 72

282 Mark Murless (Rsa) 72 71 70 69, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 71 71 70 70, Chris Williams (Rsa) 72 70 70 70, Ulrich van den Bergh (Rsa) 72 70 69 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 73 71 67 71, Warren Bennett 73 69 68 72, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 69 67 73 73, Oliver Fisher 77 67 65 73, Raphael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 72 69 66 75

283 Michiel Bothma (Rsa) 75 69 72 67, Andre Cruse (Rsa) 72 70 73 68, Adilson da Silva (Bra) 71 71 73 68, Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 73 68 72 70, Ian Hutchings (Rsa) 73 70 70 70, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 73 68 72, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 69 66 78

284 Johan Axgren (Swe) 72 70 72 70, Oliver Wilson 74 69 71 70, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 72 70 70 72, Phillip Archer 75 68 69 72, Sam Little 73 71 68 72, Andrew Tampion (Aus) 72 67 62 73, Ross Wellington (Rsa) 76 67 67 74

285 Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 74 70 71 70, Divan van den Heever (Rsa) 71 73 70 71, Trevor Moore (Rsa) 71 69 73 72, Sean Farrell (Zim) 75 69 69 72, Gareth Davies 69 75 69 72, Nigel Edwards 73 68 71 73, Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 74 70 67 74, Nico van Rensburg 70 70 70 75, Michael Lamb (Zim) 76 68 66 75

286 Dion Fourie (Rsa) 72 70 73 71, Steve van Vuuren (Rsa) 71 65 77 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 69 73 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 68 71 74, David Carter 74 69 69 74

287 Garry Houston 71 72 76 68, Julien Foret (Fra) 75 69 74 69, Joachim Backstrom (Swe) 72 72 73 70, Grant Muller (Rsa) 73 71 72 71, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 76 68 71 72

288 Christiaan Basson (Rsa) 73 70 73 72, Birgir Hafthorsson (Isl) 74 69 70 75

289 Tony Johnstone (Zim) 72 72 74 71, Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 71 71 75 72

290 Anton Haig (Rsa) 75 68 71 76