Ernie Els
Ernie Els
Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Elsis a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his 71 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionAthlete
brain great love picking thinking winning
He's a great champion. I love picking his brain about what he was thinking when he was winning all those tournaments.
behind conditions full generally last major month notch open rattled took
He's a full notch behind Vijay. He's not even on the same rung. There's no major that rattles you like the U.S. Open. Last year's Open probably took a month to get over that. It's not like the Masters, where the conditions are generally the same. At the Open, they're probably already rattled going in.
almost golfing gone level seems tired
He's almost like a golfing machine. He never seems to get tired of the game. And he's gone up a level this year.
coming love
I love coming here when I get the chance,
bogey came five huge mistakes par sums
I feel that to bogey a par five is a huge sin. But after making mistakes I came back well and that kind of sums up the whole day.
finished second six
I finished second six times to him that year,
feeling masters next open ready reason time traveling virus year
I will be ready for the Masters next time around and had I not got a virus just before Augusta, this year I would have been ready. I don't know if it was all the traveling that did it to me or whatever, but also for some reason I went to the U.S. Open feeling tired.
area brushing course fine game good line practice score taking
Brushing up on your short game at the practice area is fine and good, but taking it with you to the golf course - when your score is really on the line - is another story.
accuracy areas best certain conditions difference form gets greens longer matter player second shots small takes toughest tour win
Basically, it takes the best player who's on form to win this tournament. The conditions here, maybe, make more difference than at a lot of places. When it gets a little firmer, the second shots become probably the toughest on Tour because the greens are very small and there's only certain areas where you can go with your second shots. In that regard, it doesn't matter longer or shorter hitter. Accuracy is at a premium.
basically course recovery sensible sure
Basically it's the only sensible course of action, so that I can be sure of the promptest recovery period.
bit determined good played today
Today I was a bit more determined not to let it get to me too much, and I played a good back nine.
bad element experience extra few guys nerves nervous playing similar spoken
I actually feel pretty nervous about playing again, ... I've spoken to a few guys who had a similar experience to me, with not being able to play because of injury. They all said the same thing. When you come back, there's that extra element of the unknown, which we're not used to. But nerves aren't a bad thing.
clubs conscious hit hitting mind shot swing
I almost never hit a shot all out, and I make a conscious effort to swing my long clubs just as I do my wedges. Keep this in mind when hitting your fairway woods.
coming field saw scoring stage tiger
Freddie was coming on then, and I saw Tiger was coming on then, and the whole field was kind of scoring at that stage and I was kind of stalling, ... It was getting to me a little bit.