Ernie Els tipped his hat to his autistic son, Ben, and former South African President Nelson Mandela as he reflected on winning The Open on Sunday.
The South African claimed his fourth major title and his second Open triumph after a strong back nine put him in prime position when leader Adam Scott dropped four shots on the final four holes.
Of the top seven finishers, only Els and Luke Donald (tied fifth) shot sub-70 rounds as the majority of the chasing pack failed to make an impact on Scott who held a four-shot lead overnight at eleven-under.
Even after having posted seven-under as the score to beat, Els would have thought that a play-off was the best he could have hoped for, but in the end it proved enough to secure a one-shot victory.
"I'm just all numb at the moment. He's a great friend of mine. Obviously we both wanted to win very badly for different reasons and I really feel for him," Els said of Scott's misfortune.
"It's the nature of the beast. That's why we are out here. You win, you lose and it was my time."
The 42-year-old reveals that he drew on inspiration from two very different positive influences in his life in the build-up and during his winning round.
"I made a lot of putts today with Ben in mind because I know Ben's watching," Els said of his nine-year-old son who is autistic.
"He loves when I hit golf balls - he's always there. He comes with me. He loves the flight of the ball and the sound.
"I know he was watching today. He gets really excited and I wanted to keep him excited today, so I made a lot of putts for him."
Els made great mention of Mandela - who turned 94 on Wednesday - in his winner's speech, adding later that the build-up to the Olympics had left Mandela in the forefront of his mind.
"A lot of the Olympic theme this year has got President Mandela in it, so he's been very much in my thoughts," he explained.
"Believe it or not, this morning I was lying watching cricket and I was just kind of day-dreaming and that thought came through me in a split second.
"If I win, I told myself, I'd better thank President Mandela because I grew up in the era of the apartheid and then changing into the democratic era President Mandela was right there.
"Right after the change I was the first one to win a major, so there's a lot of significance there in my life.
"In a way we intertwined together in a crazy way and I just felt he's been so important for us being where we are today as a nation and as sports people."
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