Ernie Els (part 2)
As mentioned in part 1, Ernie Else still had more to achieve after 1996. In 1997, he won his second U.S Open over Colin Montgomerie again. His triumph over Monty in 1997 made him the first international player since Alex Smith to have won the U.S Open twice.
That year, he won the Johnnie Walker Classic and also defended his Buick Classic title. Ernie was very close to winning the World Match Play Championship for the fourth time but was defeated by Vijay Singh. The next two years were also great for him as he
achieved four wins on both the European Tour and the PGA Tour.
The new millennium started with a bang for Ernie as he was awarded with an honorary life membership of the European Tour. He was given this prestigious tribute by the Board of directors of the European Tour due to his major wins and three World Match Play
titles. That year, he didn’t win but was a runner up in three majors. Ernie came second place in the U.S Open, The Open Championship and the Masters and in seven tournaments worldwide. Due to his recurring second place finishes, this year was termed as the
‘runner up’ year for the South African. The next year however provided a very winless season where Ernie didn’t win a US PGA event for the first time since 1994. Although not victorious, Els did manage to come in second place in nine events.
Things got better for him when 2002 turned out to be the best year of his career. It started with a win at the Heineken Classic at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. That year he also beat the former world Number one, Tiger Woods and took the Genuity Championship
title. The most memorable moment of his career was when he won The Open Championship in the difficult weather situation at Muirfield. He overcame a four man playoff and had the honour of taking the famous Claret Jug home for the first time. That year, he snatched
his fourth Match Play title along with his third NedBank Challenge.
In 2003, Els topped the European Order of Merit for the first time despite not having played in many tournaments. He had four wins and three runner ups that year. He also won the world Match play for the fifth time and tied a record for five wins of the
tournament. That year, he was also voted 37th on the SABC3’s Great South Africans.
2004 brought another amazing year yet again where he had six wins on both tours. Among his triumphs, the notable ones were his win at The Memorial, WGC American Express Championship and the World Match Play Championship again. This year however, Els didn’t
win a major but did put up a good fight in all three of them.
Els, unlike many of his golfing peers, preferred to play all around the world rather than one country. He had a thing for European Tour sanctioned events in Australasia, Asia and of course his native country South Africa. This attitude of his was opposed
by the director of the PGA Tour, Tim Finchem. Finchem even wrote to Els requesting him to play in the US more but his request was rejected. The PGA Tour’s efforts to have Els focus in America were disliked by the golfing world outside North America.
Due to his knee injury in 2005, Els wasn’t very active in golf for some time. In 2007, he declared a three year plan that he would execute it order to challenge Woods as number one. That year, Els struggled a lot and finally tasted victory in 2008, when
he won the Honda Classic which was the 16th PGA Tour victory of his career. His victory train got stuck for some time and finally started moving when he was victorious in the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in 2010. This year, he has also been added
to the World Golf Hall of fame which is truly an honour.
Just recently, Els won the PGA Grand Slam in Bermuda in October. With this year ending well for the player, there is no saying how much more Ernie Els will accomplish.
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