Looking back, this really was Els' U.S. Open to win

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Ernie Els shakes hands with playing partner Phil Mickelson after a difficult day on Sunday.

It was starting to look a little too easy for the Big Easy.

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Starting the final round six shots behind leader Dustin Johnson, Els had already wiped out that deficit with birdies on three of his first six holes Sunday at Pebble Beach. Suddenly, Els was at 3 under in the 110th U.S. Open and tied for the lead with Graeme McDowell.

This didn't seem like a fair fight: Els, with his two U.S. Opens and three majors, vs. McDowell, a 30-year-old from Northern Ireland whose best finish on the PGA TOUR was a tie for second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2005.

Els, at 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds, seemed to have the upper hand on McDowell (5-11, 162) in physical size, experience and the size of their trophy cases.

But things rarely go as they seem they should in a U.S. Open. At least not this one.

Just when it appeared Els was on verge of taking control of this U.S. Open, he lost it. He bogeyed the par-4 ninth after his tee shot landed in the left rough. He double bogeyed the 10th when his next tee shot -- no doubt a bit of over-correction -- sliced off the fairway and in the general vicinity of the Pacific Ocean.

The replay of Els crawling back up to the 10th fairway from the beach said it all -- this U.S. Open had just brought the South African to his knees.

A bogey at the 11th left Els over par and reeling. While he re-grouped with a birdie at the par-3 12th, he gave that shot away with a bogey at the difficult par-5 14th. Then it came down to the finish at Pebble Beach, as it always seems to, and this wasn't a good omen for Els.

He bogeyed the par-3 17th hole -- meaning he had played the hole in a combined 5 over for the week. The 17th hole will be remembered as where Els lost this championship.

Still, Els could make one last-gasp attempt to catch McDowell with a birdie at the 18th, but for the third time in four days, he failed to birdie the par-5 hole.

While Johnny Miller was true when he said a lot of top players left Pebble Beach feeling like they should have won, nobody could have felt that way more so than Els. He had opened with a 33, but closed with a 40 to finish in third, two shots behind champion McDowell. Els had a share of the lead and all the momentum before his round got away from him on the Cliffs of Doom.

Maybe that's why Els refused to talk to reporters afterward, the only player among the contenders to skip a post-round interview. Normally quite accommodating -- remember how long he spoke in 2000 when he finished 15 shots behind Tiger Woods in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach? -- Els was simply that crushed Sunday by not finishing the job and earning his first U.S. Open title in 13 years.

We were left to remember something Els said earlier in the week, when he was asked after he won two of his first five U.S. Opens, how many more he thought he would have by now.

"Well, quite a few, I would say," Els said. "Obviously, Oakmont was great and Congressional was good. If we could have played those two venues a bit more often, maybe I could have had a better chance. But we went to Olympic (T49), I didn't have a good time there. And Pinehurst (missed cut), didn't have a good time there, either. And then 2000 came here, and finished second, although I was never really in the ballgame.

"And I haven't really done too much since then. Yeah, I had a great start to my major campaign. I've won two, won another Open Championship, but I haven't really capitalized on the chances I've had."

Els has made a few mistakes along the way. He contended at Shinnecock Hills in 2004, but faded on Sunday, prompting his caddie, Ricci Roberts, to question why he had played seven consecutive weeks heading into the U.S. Open. Some of his peers had been telling Els for years that his jet-setting schedule wasn't helping him when it came to the majors.

Els also opened himself to criticism this year when he decided to rotate caddies between Roberts and Dan Quinn, a former NHL player who befriended Els when he moved to South Florida two years to get better care for Els' son, Ben, who has autism. Both of Els' two PGA TOUR victories this year came with Roberts on the bag.

But even with Roberts by his side Sunday, Els couldn't make the proper decisions or pull off the shots to win a U.S. Open that seemed destined to be his.

This isn't the last chance for Els, who turned 40 last fall and has returned to No. 6 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking. He likely will contend at St. Andrews next month as he goes for his second Claret Jug, but he knows his athletic clock is ticking.

"Not too many people give you too many chances winning a major after 40," Els said in his pre-U.S Open interview. "But I feel good. I feel my game's there. I'd like to think I've got quite a few more left. If I have to stop playing golf now I've got to be pretty pleased with what I've done."

But for a long while, he will look back on Sunday as one that got away from him.

Craig Dolch is a freelance columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.