Golfing Personalities: Ernie Els (part 1)
Golf is a very prestigious sport, and where the sport is so elegant, the personalities of golf stars are worth noting. Till now, there have been various golf legends and Ernie Els is one of them. Here’s some more insight into the great South African golfer.
Theodore Ernie Els also known as Ernie Els was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and has been one of the greatest golf players in the world since the mid-1990s. Els, who was also world number one at one time, is known as the ‘The Big Easy’. His nickname
was given to him most probably due to his height which is about 6 feet 3 inches and the ease with which he makes those scoring hits. From the list of his countless wins, the most outstanding ones are the three championships that he sweeped away. Else is the
1994 and 1997 U.S Open Champion, and the 2002 Open Championship winner.
Els grew up in Kempton Park and played an assortment of sports. Not being a golf fanatic since childhood, Els tried tennis, cricket and rugby union. It was when he was eight, that he started playing golf. Ernie learned the basics of golf at the Kempton Park
Country Club where he used to play caddie for his father, Neels. Soon, he was playing better golf than his father and also his elder brother Dirk. When he was fourteen, Ernie realized his talents and started to focus especially on golf.
Ernie achieved his first winning moment in 1984, when he won the Junior World Golf Championship in the Boys 13-14 category. The year that Els played, another eminent golf personality played as well. Phil Mickelson came in second place after Els. At that
time, both the teenage golfers weren’t aware of the feats they were going to accomplish in the future.
Ernie also won the South African Amateur Championship a few months after his seventeenth birthday. He became the youngest-ever player of the tournament and broke the record set by Gary Player.
Ernie’s Amateur career was a remarkable one. In 1989, he won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship and turned professional that same year. Just two years after turning pro, Ernie won his first professional tournament on the South Africa Tour
which is now known as the Sunshine Tour. In the 1991/1992 and the 1994/95 seasons, he won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit.
In 1993, he had a taste of victory outside South Africa when he took the Dunlop Phoenix title in Japan. Just a year later, he won his first major championship at the Oakmont Country Club when he became a U.S Open Champion.
During that memorable event, Ernie was tied with Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie after 72 holes and they went to an 18 hole playoff the next day. Till the end of the playoff, Els and Roberts were tied until Els finally struck gold on the second hole
of sudden death.
Not only was Ernie notable in the US and South Africa, but his victory train went around the whole world as he won the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour and also the Toyota World Match Play Championship. Once again, he defeated Colin Montgomerie
four and two. The next year, he beat Steve Elkington in the World Match Play Championship, then won the Byron Nelson and then won two more times in South Africa. In 1996, he won his third straight World Match Play Championship over Vijay Singh
This was a truly amazing feat for Els as no one has ever attained consecutive wins in a one-on-one tournament. The amazing year finished off with a win in his native country, South Africa.
Up till 1996, Els played very well. But he himself wasn’t aware of how much success was waiting ahead.
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