Not that easy for ‘The Big Easy’!
Theodore Ernest Els is known for his enormous physical built and his career in the mid 1990’s. This guy came with a bang. Standing 6 feet 3 inches, having the most smooth and effortless golf swings, ‘The Big Easy’ made golf look pretty easy in those days.
Ernie Els holds the record of winning the World Match Play Championship for a record seven times. His career in the 1990’s was flawless.
Till 2001, Els had made countless records on his name, including the most prize money earned in the European Tour by a player
It was in early 2001 that his performance fell apart. For the first time since 1994, he failed to win any U.S PGA Tour event. Then came 2002, which was easily the best year for ‘The Big Easy’.
Els outplayed and outshined the great Tiger Woods and won the Genuity Championship Trophy. This victory gave high hopes to Els’ fans and marked his global dominance.
However, after 2004, his decline was clearly visible. He failed to win any major championship and underperformed throughout the tournaments.
He had some wins but he had not been performing as he was in the 1990’s. His career never got back after the 2002 success and till now his presence has been questioned.
Recently, in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title in almost two years, Els faced defeat again at the hands of Jason Dufner.
Els had many chances to clinch a victory, yet he always fell short by a few inches. Els reviewed his performance as ‘not great’ and ‘disappointing’.
Els went back to his early days, remembering how his golf swings were and compared his opponent’s performance with his early career moves.
His current tone and performance has weaknesses. However, he was still in denial of the fact that he is not that great anymore.
Els has been great, no doubt about that, but every high has a low. His smooth swing play is not that smooth anymore, which is pretty obvious too. It is indeed sad for the fans but it is true.
Els has also failed to qualify for the Masters for the first time in his career since 1993. He could not end up in the world top-50, which disqualified him for the Masters, indeed a shocker for Els' fans.
Els is known for not being a very technical player. He is more of a "feel" player, as his swings do not show any technical method to them. They are rather a signature act that only Els could perform.
This lack of mechanics has taken him down the lane where he is struggling to get a grasp of his old glory days.
The golfer with the most beautiful swing in the golf world has lost his magical touch, which is clearly visible in the past one year's performance.
There are two major factors of Els' gradual down fall. One, his injury back in July 2005, secondly, his son Ben was diagnosed with autism. Els' performance after these two events has been a little off.
‘The Big Easy’ needs to make things easy for himself again, like the mid 1990’s, when he was known for the best swing in the golf world.
His level of play has been decreasing rapidly and for ‘The Big Easy’, securing his stature is becoming ‘The Big Difficult’.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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