Ernie Els gets off to a great start in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans - Golf News
Ernie Els fired a six-under par 66 in the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to share the third spot, at TPC Louisiana, on Thursday, April 26, 2012.
Els performed poorly in the 2011 golf season, which saw him slip outside the top-50 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Therefore, he needed a strong start to the 2012 season in order to get an invitation for the Masters Tournament.
However, he failed to make it to the top-50, which restrained him from the Masters for the first time in the last 19 years.
Thereafter, he participated in the RBC Heritage and missed the cut following a somewhat worse performance of 72 and 76 in the opening two rounds.
Yet, he did not lose his confidence and made a solid start in the Zurich Classic in preparation for the Players Championship, scheduled to start in May, 2012.
Els kicked off the round in an impressive style as he carded a total of five birdies on the front nine to go five-under par early in the round.
On the back nine, he managed to score two birdies against a lone bogey of the round to finish one stroke behind the leaders, Ken Duke and Cameron Tringale.
Meanwhile, Daniel Chopra, Steve Stricker and Chris Stroud also joined him on the leaderboard with the same first-round score.
Stricker had a great first round as he consistently struck the greens and his putting was great on the course. However, he missed the par on the ninth hole (18th of the course) that caused him to stay one stroke behind the leaders.
“I hit a good shot in there, too,” he said. “I drew it in there and just didn't have -- I didn't hit it hard enough. I had plenty of club. We were in between clubs. I knew short was better than kind of long and to the right”.
“Obviously I would have loved to have it on the green. Getting up and down was a good momentum saver and a good way to finish the round,” he added.
Despite missing the lead, Stricker was happy with his performance to charge in contention from the very first round. “I feel good. I feel even better about the start I got today,” he said.
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