Ernie Els
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Personal Information | |
---|---|
Birth: | October 17, 1969, Johannesburg, South Africa |
Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.91 m) |
Nationality: | South Africa |
Residence: | Wentworth, England |
Career | |
College: | N/A |
Turned Professional: | 1989 |
Current Tour: | European Tour (joined 1992); PGA Tour (joined 1994) |
Professional wins: | 55 (PGA Tour 15; European Tour 22 (including 2 co-sanctioned with the PGA Tour); others 20) |
Majors: | U.S. Open 1994, 1997 The Open Championship 2002 |
Awards: | European Tour Order of Merit winner 2003, 2004 European Tour Golfer of the Year 1994, 2002, 2003 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year 1994 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit winner 1991/92, 1994/95 |
Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Els (born October 17, 1969) is a South African golfer who has been one of the top professional players in the world since the mid-1990s. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy", for his imposing physical stature (he stands 6 feet 4 inches) along with his fluid, seemingly effortless golf swing.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Growing up in South Africa, he played rugby, cricket, tennis, and, starting at age 8, golf. He was a skilled junior tennis player and won the Eastern Transvaal Junior Championships at age 13. But by age 14 Els was a scratch handicap, and from then on decided to focus exclusively on golf.
Els first achieved prominence in 1984, when he won the Junior World Golf Championship in the Boys 13-14 category. Phil Mickelson was second to Ernie that year. (The Boys 9-10 category was won by Tiger Woods.)
[edit] Professional career
Els turned professional at the end of 1989, and won his first professional tournament in 1991 on the Southern Africa Tour (today the Sunshine Tour).
Among his numerous victories since are three major championships: Els won the U.S. Open in 1994 at the Oakmont Country Club and 1997 (this time at the Congressional Country Club), and the British Open in 2002.
Other highlights in Els' career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record six times. He has held the number one spot in the Official World Golf Rankings and has been consistently ranked in the top five. He has been in the top ten for a total of 646 weeks. Nobody has been in the top ten longer. In 2003 he was voted 37th on the SABC3's Great South Africans. He won the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit in the 1991/92 and 1994/95 seasons.
Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known for his willingness to participate in tournaments all around the world (he regularly plays in European Tour-sanctioned events in Asia, Australasia, and his native country of South Africa). He says that his globe-trotting schedule is in recognition of the global nature of golf, but it has caused some friction with the U.S. PGA TOUR, an organization that would prefer Els to play more tournaments in the United States. In late 2004, Tim Finchem, the director of the PGA Tour, wrote quite a firm letter to Els asking him to do so, but Els publicized and rejected this request. The PGA Tour's attitude caused considerable offense in the golfing world outside of North America. Els missed several months of the 2005 season due to injury, but won the second event on his return, the Dunhill Championship.
Els has not missed a cut on the PGA Tour since the 2004 Bay Hill Invitational and has not missed a cut on the European Tour since the 2000 Johnnie Walker Classic. He is currently leading the statistic of most consecutive cuts on both circuits.
Els' is represented by International Sports Management. When not playing, he has a golf course design business, a charitable foundation which supports golf among underprivileged youngsters in South Africa, and a highly-regarded wine-making business.
[edit] Major Championships
[edit] Wins (3)
Year | Championship | 54 Holes | Winning Score | Margin of Victory | Runners Up |
1994 | U.S. Open | 2 shot lead | -5 (69-71-66-73=279) | Playoff 1 | Colin Montgomerie, Loren Roberts |
1997 | U.S. Open (2) | 2 shot deficit | -4 (71-67-69-69)=276) | 1 stroke | Colin Montgomerie |
2002 | The Open Championship | 2 shot lead | -6 (70-66-72-70=278) | Playoff 2 | Stuart Appleby, Steve Elkington, Thomas Levet |
1 Defeated Montgomerie in 18-hole playoff and Roberts in sudden death: Els (74-4-4), Roberts (74-4-5), Montgomerie (78)
2 Defeated Appleby and Elkington in 4-hole playoff and Levet in sudden death: Els (4-3-5-4-par), Appleby (4-3-5-5), Elkington (5-3-4-5), Levet (4-3-5-4-bogey)
[edit] Results timeline
Tournament | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T8 | CUT | T12 | T17 | T16 | T27 |
U.S. Open | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | T7 | 1 | CUT | T5 | 1 | T49 | CUT |
The Open Championship | CUT | DNP | DNP | T5 | T6 | T24 | T11 | T2 | T10 | T29 | T24 |
PGA Championship | DNP | DNP | DNP | CUT | CUT | T25 | T3 | T61 | T53 | T21 | CUT |
Tournament | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Masters | 2 | T6 | T5 | T6 | 2 | 47 | T27 |
U.S. Open | T2 | T66 | T24 | T5 | T9 | T15 | T26 |
The Open Championship | T2 | T3 | 1 | T18 | 2 | T34 | 3 |
PGA Championship | T34 | T13 | T34 | T5 | T4 | DNP | T16 |
DNP = did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" = tied
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10.
[edit] PGA Tour career summary
Year | Wins(Majors) | Earnings ($) | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | 1(1) | 684,440 | 19 |
1995 | 1(0) | 842,590 | 14 |
1996 | 1(0) | 904,944 | 14 |
1997 | 2(1) | 1,243,008 | 9 |
1998 | 1(0) | 763,783 | 36 |
1999 | 1(0) | 1,710,756 | 15 |
2000 | 1(0) | 3,469,405 | 3 |
2001 | 0(0) | 2,336,456 | 15 |
2002 | 2(1) | 3,291,895 | 5 |
2003 | 2(0) | 3,371,257 | 9 |
2004 | 3(0) | 5,787,225 | 2 |
2005* | 0(0) | 1,627,184 | 47 |
2006 | 0(0) | 2,326,220 | 28 |
Career** | 15(3) | 28,420,395 | 6 |
* Didn't play after July due to injury. ** Complete through end of 2006 season
These figures are from the PGA Tour's official site. As Els divides his time roughly equally between the PGA Tour and the European Tour, his ranking on the PGA Tour money list understates his standing within the global game. From the mid 1990s through 2005, he has rarely been out of the top five in the Official World Golf Rankings.
[edit] Amateur wins
- 1984 World Junior Golf Championships (Boys 13-14 division)
- 1986 South African Boys Championship, South African Amateur Championship
- 1989 South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship
[edit] PGA Tour wins (15)
- 1994 (1) U.S. Open
- 1995 (1) GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic
- 1996 (1) Buick Classic
- 1997 (2) U.S. Open, Buick Classic
- 1998 (1) Bay Hill Invitational
- 1999 (1) Nissan Open
- 2000 (1) The International
- 2002 (2) Genuity Championship, The Open Championship
- 2003 (2) Mercedes Championships, Sony Open in Hawaii
- 2004 (3) Sony Open in Hawaii, Memorial Tournament, WGC-American Express Championship
Major championships are shown in bold.
[edit] European Tour wins (22)
- 1994 (1) Dubai Desert Classic
- 1995 (1) Lexington South African PGA Championship
- 1997 (1) Johnnie Walker Classic
- 1998 (1) South African Open
- 1999 (1) Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship
- 2000 (1) Standard Life Loch Lomond
- 2002 (3) Heineken Classic, Dubai Desert Classic, The Open Championship
- 2003 (5) Heineken Classic, Johnnie Walker Classic, Barclays Scottish Open, Omega European Masters, HSBC World Matchplay Championship
- 2004 (3) Heineken Classic, WGC-American Express Championship, HSBC World Matchplay Championship
- 2005 (3) Dubai Desert Classic, Qatar Masters, BMW Asian Open
- 2006 (1) Dunhill Championship (2005 calendar year, 2006 European Tour season)
- 2007 (1) South African Airways Open (2006 calendar year, 2007 European Tour season)
Els's victories in The Open and the WGC-American Express Championship count as wins on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour. His two U.S. Opens do not count as European Tour wins because the three U.S. based majors did not become part of the European Tour's official schedule until 1998.
[edit] Sunshine Tour wins (15)
- 1991 (1) Amatola Sun Classic
- 1992 (6) Protea Assurance South African Open, Lexington South African PGA Championship, South African Masters, Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic, First National Bank Players Championship, Goodyear Classic
- 1995 (2) Bell's Cup, Lexington South African PGA Championship (co-sanctioned with European Tour)
- 1996 (1) Philips South African Open
- 1998 (1) South African Open (co-sanctioned with European Tour)
- 1999 (1) Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship (co-sanctioned with European Tour)
- 2001 (1) Vodacom Players Championship
- 2005 (1) Dunhill Championship (co-sanctioned with European Tour, 2006 season)
- 2006 (1) South African Airways Open (co-sanctioned with European Tour, 2007 season)
[edit] Other wins (10)
- 1993 (1) Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)
- 1994 (1) Toyota World Match Play Championship (unofficial money European Tour event)
- 1995 (1) Toyota World Match Play Championship (unofficial money European Tour event)
- 1996 (1) Toyota World Match Play Championship (unofficial money European Tour event)
- 1997 (1) PGA Grand Slam of Golf (unofficial money PGA Tour event)
- 1999 (1) Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge (unofficial money Sunshine Tour event)
- 2000 (1) Nedbank Golf Challenge (unofficial money Sunshine Tour event)
- 2002 (2) Nedbank Golf Challenge (unofficial money Sunshine Tour event), Cisco World Match Play Championship (unofficial money European Tour event)
- 2004 (1) Nelson Mandela Invitational (unofficial money Sunshine Tour event; with Vincent Tshabalala)
[edit] Teams
Alfred Dunhill Cup
1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 (winners), 1998 (winners), 1999, 2000
World Cup
1992, 1993, 1996 (Individual and team winners), 1997, 2001 (winners)
Presidents Cup
1996, 1998 (Winners), 2000, 2003 (Draw)
[edit] Els-designed golf courses
- Mission Hills Golf Club (The Savannah Course) - Shenzhen, China
- Whiskey Creek - Ijamsville, Maryland, USA
- Oubaai - Garden Route, South Africa
He is also responsible for the refinement and modernisation of the West Course, Wentworth-Virginia Water, England- which took place in 2006.
Courses under construction include:
- Hoakalei Country Club - Honolulu, Hawaii
- The Dunes - Dubai, UAE
- Gardener Ross Golf and Country Estate - Gauteng, South Africa
[edit] Foundation
The Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation was established in 1999. It has the objective of identifying youths which show talent and potential in the game of golf from under-privileged backgrounds. It provides educational assistance amongst other moral and financial help in order for these youths to reach their full potential.
The first Friendship Cup was played in 2006 which is a matchplay competition, played in a Ryder Cup type format. In the cup, Ernie's foundation plays against the foundation of Tiger Woods. Ernie's foundation won 12.5 points to 3.5 points.
[edit] See also
- Golfers with most major championship wins
- Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
- Golfers with most European Tour wins
[edit] External links
- Official Ernie Els Site
- Profile on official PGA Tour site
- Profile on official European Tour site
- Profile on official Sunshine Tour site
- Results in ranking events for the last two years from the Official World Golf Rankings site
Official World Golf Rankings | World No. 1's in men's golf since 1986. | |
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Severiano Ballesteros | Fred Couples | David Duval | Ernie Els | Nick Faldo | Bernhard Langer | Tom Lehman | Greg Norman | Nick Price | Vijay Singh | Tiger Woods † | Ian Woosnam | |
† Tiger Woods (USA) is the current World No. 1, and has spent most weeks in that position, currently over 400. |