2001 - 2004

In 2001 Ernie maintained his run of winning at least one tournament every year, with victory in the Vodacom Players’ Championship and also at the World Golf Championship - EMC World Cup.

In 2002 Ernie won the Open Championship at Muirfield, the third major of his career, after a four-man, four-hole playoff with Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby and Thomas Levet, followed by sudden-death against Levet. He also added the Genuity Championship to his expanding collection of PGA Tour titles, that week playing a standard of golf which Ernie still rates as among the best of his career. On the European Tour he won the Heineken Classic, the Dubai Desert Classic, a fourth World Matchplay title at Wentworth and a third Nedbank Challenge.

Ernie kicked off his 2003 season in spectacular fashion, breaking the all-time PGA Tour scoring record at the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii, shooting 31-under par. He then travelled to the Sony Open and won again. When he switched to the European Tour, the result was the same; a win at the Heineken Classic and in the Johnnie Walker Classic. Later that year he won the Barclays Scottish Open, Omega European Masters and a record-equalling fifth World Matchplay Championship.

In 2004 Ernie successfully defended his Sony Open title in Hawaii, then went on to win the Heineken Classic at Royal Melbourne for a third successive year. In June he added the prestigious Memorial Tournament to his collection of titles, before winning the WGC American Express Championship in Ireland. In October, he became the only man in history to win the World Matchplay Championship for a sixth time.