Els makes a Great Schott! putt to win it

YOU are up by four strokes with 18 holes to go. This is the majors. This is where they separate the boys from the men.

Adam Scott, the curly-topped Aussie with the belly putter, the leader since Day Two, was up four shots going to Day Four.

Since this was the British Open, the mother of all golf tournaments around the world, Scott was seemingly four hours away from immortality; the Open is simply the Eiffel Tower of golf.

The Claret, the most famous jug of all time that every boy dreams of winning once he starts swinging a club, was there for the taking now for Scott.

Only a disaster now as massive and as devastating as the sinking of the Titanic would stop Scott from hoisting the Claret at near-dusk. Darn, it was to be so. Look, in the last 36 holes of the fabled Open prior to Day 4, Scott had been virtually untouchable.

Look, in the last 50 holes, Scott led a star-studded field that virtually ate the dust in his wake.

With a margin appearing as unshakeable as St. Augustine’s faith, Scott was now actually four holes away from a victory seen as early as at the turn.

But, alas, look what one dude was doing while Scott wasn’t looking: Trying to foil what seemed like a pre-ordained coronation, gunning down three birdies coming home. Ernie Els it was. OK, Els won the US Open twice but that was in 1994 and 1997 yet.

And although he was a British Open winner already, that was in 1992 yet, not at Lytham St. Anne but at Muirfield.

In his last two British Opens at St. Andrews in 2010 and St. George’s last year, Els missed the cut. And he wasn’t at the Masters in April because he failed to qualify.

Els was 7 shots behind Scott early in the last round. With 9 holes left to play, the South African trailed the Aussie by 6. So, how can Els, 42, win at all? Ugh, Great Scott!, 32, bogeyed all his last four holes, including the 18th where he missed a 10-footer that would have forged a playoff.

And Els birdied the 18th from 20 feet to win by one. Just one.

In boxing, you need one big punch to win it.

In golf, just one putt to either win or lose it.