Ernie Els hopes to end his winless streak at Volvo Golf Champions on European Tour this week
After a gruesomely lacklustre season last year, South African veteran Ernie Els is all set to utilise his tons of experience at this week’s Volvo Golf Champions at Fancourt and insists he will surge to the top of the leaderboard over the weekend.
The 23-time European Tour winner was speaking at a press, briefing ahead of the four-day event.
Els has not won a title since December 2010 after his stellar victory at the South African Open where he overtook the grizzled Retief Goosen by one stroke.
“My work ethic and my determination, especially this year, is more than ever because I had such a dismal season last year,” said Els.
He went on, “So I would like to really turn things around this year and see if I can win some tournaments again. We have a house down on the beach down there and wish I was there right now, very warm. But it's a wonderful event”.
Volvo Golf Champions is an invitation-only event on the European Tour, yielding one of the toughest fields on the tour.
Els also said that it is a special feeling for all South African professional players, as it not only marks a welcomed homecoming but also incites them to play better on their home course.
Regardless of his ambitious plans, Els has no doubts about the part of his game which has been spiralling down.
The 42-year-old Johannesburg native added, “I’m still working on the flat stick. Hopefully that behaves itself this week, and I think I can have a very good chance.”
The three major winner also revealed that he has been playing the course almost all through the month of December and will be putting the priceless experience to some good use this weekend.
He will surely be having an edge over the foreigners like Colin Montgomerie, who have been invited to participate in the event.
Els has been part of the European Tour for a good two decades after he turned professional in the year 1989.
He was inducted in the World Golf Hall of Fame last year and is often regarded as one of the best South African golfers of the present times.
Els has won 64 professional events in the course of his career including the coveted US Open in 1994 and 1997 and the Open Championship in 2002.
Succumbing to form vows, Els spent two nerve-wrecking years, from March 2008 to March 2010, without being able to card a single victory anywhere in the world.
His whirlwind tourneys stretched from the European Tour events to the PGA and to the Far East on the Asian Tour.
He was finally able to break his winless streak at WGC Cadillac Championship in March 2010 and went over to bag two more titles before the closing of the season.
He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the South African Open the same year and finished for an impressive joint third in the US Open at Pebble Beach Golf links.
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