Ernie Els playing average at the Shell Houston Open, Masters at stake
Ernie Els is playing an average game at the Shell Houston Open, but he does not look worried for putting the Masters Tournament at stake.
The 42-year-old South African professional golf player is ranked 58th and not in the field of the first major of the year. He is sad to miss the first Master after many years.
“It’ll be a very weird feeling,” Els said. “Since I’ve been a professional at this level, I’ve played at the Masters, so it’ll be a very weird feeling not to be there. I’ll miss it”.
He added, “If I get into the Masters, that’s great. If I don’t, then I’ve had many Masters that I can look back at, and I’ll get back in there next year”.
There is only one chance left to qualify for the Masters, and that is, winning the Shell Houston Open title.
However, his performance in the two rounds was average, at the Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course in Humble, Texas.
“You can’t go into a week putting pressure on yourself to win to get into another week,” Els said.
“I just want to have a good week. If I can win, obviously, that would be absolutely wonderful. But my goal here is not to get into the Masters, it’s to play the Shell Houston Open as good as I can”.
He scored a 5-under 139 after two rounds on Friday and tied for the 28th position. He is currently six strokes behind the leading position and playing an average game so far.
On Thursday, he scored a 2-under 70 in the first round and a 3-under 69 in the second. Such a normal score may not help him and now there are very less chances left for him to become the proud winner of the PGA-staged tournament.
Els is facing tough rivals in Texas and most of the players are tuning up for the Masters. A tough battle was seen in both the rounds.
However, Els can still win. Analysts said that all Els needs to do is deliver some extra efforts on the course and compete well against the others.
Two rounds are remaining and if Els plays well from Saturday onwards, then he can win the glory of the Shell Houston Open and can also make it to the Masters.
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