SPORTING GREATS
Golf: Ernie Els
Brad Morgan
South Africa has consistently produced good golfers, and one of the best is Ernie Els, one of four South Africans to have won a major championship. The Big Easy has won the US Open twice, in 1994 and 1997, and that won’t be the end of his success in major championships – not if Ernie has his way.
Els was born in October 1969, and from a young age it was obvious that he had extraordinary sporting talent. He could have chosen cricket, rugby, tennis or golf, but he was a scratch golfer by the age of 14 and in the same year won the world under-14 title in San Diego, defeating Phil Mickelson. Els made golf his chosen sport.
In 1989 Els won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship and in the same year he turned professional. He had to wait until 1992 for his first professional victory, but the floodgates opened that season on the Sunshine Tour. Els won six times, including the South African Open, the South African PGA Championship and the South African Masters.
Special talent
His achievement in winning South Africa’s three biggest events matched that of South Africa’s Sportsman of the Twentieth Century, Gary Player, one of the all-time greats of the game, and it was clear that Els was a special talent.
In 1993 Els scored his first win on foreign soil, capturing the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan. The following year the Big Easy hit the jackpot when he won the US Open. Instead of the regulation 72 holes, he played 92 holes after he finished play tied for the lead with Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie, then tied with Roberts over an 18-hole playoff, before winning on the second hole of a sudden death playoff.
In the same season Els claimed another big win on American soil when he won the first Sarazen World Open, an effort that included a tournament record of 30 over nine holes.
World Matchplay success
The big South African’s success wasn’t limited to the
United States, either. He captured the Dubai Desert Classic title on the European PGA Tour and equalled a tour record when he holed an amazing 12 birdies in a round of 61. Els further demonstrated his steel when he outduelled the field to win the World Matchplay Championship. Colin Montgomerie again fell victim to Els in the battle for a title as the South African ace claimed a four and two victory in the final.
The following year Els repeated his victory in the World Matchplay Championships, this time defeating Australia’s Steve Elkington three and one in the final. He captured the Byron Nelson Classic in the United States by three shots with a superb total of 263 that included a Cottonwood Valley course record 61 and left him just one shot off the tournament record of 262. Back home in South Africa, he won both the Bell’s Cup and the PGA Championship.
Els kept up his winning habit in the United States in 1996 when he captured the Buick Classic. The Big Easy decimated
the field, recording rounds of 65, 66, 69 and 71 to finish on 17-under 271, a whopping eight shots clear of his nearest challenger. For the third year in a row he also secured the World Matchplay title, this time at the expense of Vijay Singh whom he beat three and two. No player in history had ever managed three successive titles in the one-on-one tournament.
Els also recorded a big win on home soil with a victory in the South African Open. To put the cherry on the top of a strong year, he teamed up with Wayne Westner to win the World Cup of Golf at Erinvale by a record 18 strokes. He and Westner dominated the event, finishing first and second in individual scoring.
Second major victory
The Big Easy’s highlight of 1997 was a second victory in the US Open, making him the first foreign player since Alex Smith (1906, 1910) to win the US Open twice. Els also successfully defended his Buick Classic title with a four-round total of 16-under-par
268. He added the Johnnie Walker Classic to his list of victories, and narrowly missed out on becoming the first man to win the World Matchplay four years in a row when he was beaten by Vijay Singh in the final, the same man he had edged out in the 1997 title decider.
Els also won the PGA Grand Slam by seeing off the challenges of Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and Justin Leonard, and helped his country lift the Alfred Dunhill Cup at Saint Andrew’s by beating Sweden in the final.
In 1998 Els claimed the Bay Hill Invitational title, finishing four shots clear of runners-up Bob Estes and Jeff Maggert. In South Africa he added another South African Open title to his list of successes. He was also part of a successful defence of the Alfred Dunhill Cup, edging out Jose Maria Olazabel by two strokes as South Africa blanked Spain 3-0 in the final.
In the Presidents Cup, featuring the Rest of the World (excluding Europe) against the United States, Els was one of the stars as
the Americans were beaten 20½-11½, their worst defeat ever.
Conquering Sun City
The following year the South African star kept his run of wins in the United States going by outplaying a top-class field to win the Nissan Open. To the delight of South African fans, he also won the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City for the first time, playing spectacular golf to finish at a tournament record 25-under-par 263 after rounds of 67, 66, 64 and 66. Els added another win at home in the PGA Championship.
A special honour was given to Big Ernie in January when the Board of Directors of the European Tour awarded him Honorary Life Membership of the European Tour in recognition of his two US Open wins and his three successive World Matchplay titles.
2000 brought Ernie Els only three tournament wins, but his showing was far stronger than those victories suggest. In the United States he raced to the title at The International, played under the
Modified Stableford system, winning with a tournament record-equalling score of 48 points. In Europe he won the Standard Life Loch Lomond title, and in South Africa he won the Nedbank Golf Challenge for the second year in succession.
Major runner-up
Besides his tournament wins, though, Els finished second in three majors, the Masters, US Open and British Open, as well as finishing runner-up in the Mercedes Championships and the Memorial. Putting some perspective on that achievement, the previous player who managed the three runner-up finishes in majors in a single year was the greatest player of them all, Jack Nicklaus, winner of a record 18 majors, who achieved the feat in 1964.
Els was once again a member of the South African team at the Alfred Dunhill Cup, where the South Africans finished runners-up after a 2-1 loss to Spain in the final, their sole victory coming from the two-time major winner, who defeated Jose Maria Olazabel by two
shots.
For Big Ernie 2001 was a disappointing year. For the first time since 1994 he failed to win a US PGA tour event, bringing to an end the longest winning streak on tour. However, it was still a better year than some might think. Els had nine top 10 finishes, second only to his 10 in 2000, and narrowly missed out on a tournament win when he lost in a playoff to Mike Weir at The Tour Championship. Sergio Garcia chipped in on the first playoff hole at Sun City to lift the Nedbank Golf Challenge title, thus stopping the Big Easy’s bid for a hat trick of wins at the Gary Player Country Club.
However, Els did record a South African win at the Players Championship. There was also a huge victory for the likeable star in Japan when he teamed up with Retief Goosen to win the World Cup, defeating three teams in a playoff, including the pre-tournament favourite Americans Tiger Woods and David Duval.
On the up
2002 started well for the
South African ace with a wire-to-wire victory in the Heineken Classic at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. He followed that win up by once again winning on American soil, outplaying world number one Tiger Woods to lift the Genuity Championship title. However, it was to get much better than that.
Els recorded his third major victory, taking the British Open after a playoff to lift the famous Claret Jug at Muirfield. In very tough conditions he answered those critics who had started to doubt his mental toughness in the very best fashion. In addition, he also captured the Dubai Desert Classic and the World Matchplay title for a fourth time.
At the end of the year, playing on one of his favourite courses, the Gary Player Country Club layout at Sun City, Els won the Nedbank Challenge for the third time in four years, destroying a world class field to win by eight shots on an amazing 21-under par 263.
In 2003, the big South African was even more consistent than 2002 and captured the European Order of Merit title for the first time, even though he played fewer events than his closest rivals. He was simply sensational on the European Tour, winning the Heineken Classic again, picking up the Johnnie Walker Classic title, winning the Barclays Scottish Open, taking victory in the Omega European Masters, and finishing second three times.
He was also brilliant in the USA, winning back-to-back titles at the Mercedes Championships and the Sony Open to get 2003 off to a sparkling start.
He also performed well in the majors, finishing fifth in the US Open and the US PGA, sixth in the Masters and 18th in the British Open. To top it all off, Els won the World Matchplay title for a
record-equalling fifth time, tying him with Seve Ballesteros and South African legend Gary Player.
Ernie's performances in 2004 have proved that his great form of 2003 was not a high. Rather, it is part of his progression towards becoming an even better golfer than ever before.
He can boast five victories (as of 27 October), includings wins in the Sony Open, The Memorial, the WGC-American Express Championships, the Heineken Classic, and a record-breaking sixth win in the HSBC World Matchplay Championships.
In the majors he recorded a second place finish in the US Masters, ninth in the US Open, second in the British Open, and fourth in the US PGA.
In total, the Big Easy has 16 top 10 finishes in 2004. He has wrapped up a second European PGA Order of Merit title in
succession, and is in third spot in the USA. His consistency, no matter where he plays, is astounding.
He remains one of the world's elite players, as he will no doubt demonstrate in the months and years to come.
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