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Ernie Els wins Arnold Palmer Invitational, looks ahead to Masters

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Ernie Els made four clutch pars down the stretch to win the rain-delayed Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, Fla., on Monday. He finished with a one-under-par 71 Monday and an 11-under 277 overall to win by two shots over Kevin Na and Edoardo Molinari.

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With back-to-back victories for the first time in seven years -- he won the World Golf Championship at Doral two weeks ago -- the South African golfer couldn’t help but look ahead 10 days to Augusta National and a possible green jacket to go with the blue one he won at this weekend’s tournament

‘I’d like to put this jacket in some dye,’ Els said at the trophy presentation. ‘Some green dye.’

Els has never won the Masters, which starts April 8.

He entered Monday’s play with the lead but no momentum. He had a five-shot lead with six holes remaining Sunday but had a double-bogey on No. 13 and bogey on 14 before thunderstorms stopped play, with Els’ lead down to two shots.

‘The last 20 hours I couldn’t stop thinking about trying to finish this thing,’ Els said after clinching his second win at Bay Hill on Monday.

-- Chuck Schilken

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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