Els blog: Disappointing 12 months on the course
By Ernie Els, Special to PGATOUR.COM
Ernie Els will write a blog for PGATOUR.COM weekly during the 2011 season. For more information on Els, visit ernieels.com. Click for his previous years' blogs: 2010 blog | 2009 blog
Dec. 19, 2011
Before I talk about the year as a whole and look forward to 2012, I want to personally thank everyone who supported and took part in last week's Ernie Els Invitational, a tournament that we hold every two years to help raise funds for the kids at the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation. I'm so grateful to you all. This year it was particularly special to have former Foundation member Louis Oosthuizen with us. He is such a wonderful ambassador for both our Foundation and our country and it was a pleasure for me to be able to honor him last week with a special award.
The Ernie Els Invitational is always great fun. It's all about ending the year among friends in a relaxed atmosphere and shooting 64 in the first round definitely adds to the fun! It was also nice to follow that up with a 66 on the tougher Montagu course and a two-round total of 130 was good enough to claim the win. In close chase was some of South Africa's brightest young talent -- Thomas Aiken in second, followed in third by Josh Cunliffe and in tied-fourth George Coetzee and Rikus Nortje. Well done to my old friend Johann Rupert whose team took the Four-ball alliance top prize.
As I said, though, the most important thing is we raised a lot of money to help these young kids make a good start in life and this year another 2 million Rand ($250,000) was added to the cause. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this happen.
Okay, so let's move on to my customary end of year review. Obviously it's been an extremely disappointing 12 months on the golf course. After winning the South African Open in December I went into the 2011 season with high expectations, but I had to wait until October for my first and in the end only top-10 finish of the year.
I can't tell you how frustrating it has been especially as the 2010 calendar year featured 13 top-10s, including four tournament wins. As a result of a poor run of results, I've since fallen out of the world top 50 for the first time since May 1993. To be honest, that's simply not acceptable to me.
That's history, though. All that's on my mind now and for the next however many weeks is finding a way to figure things out. The fact that I had such a strong year as recently as 2010 tells me that I can do this. Also, the kind of scores I shot last week at Fancourt pretty much reflect how I've been hitting it for a while now. There's really nothing wrong with my game. I just have to find a way of taking that form into a proper tournament situation and sustaining it over four rounds.
I think momentum is the key thing. When you get on a bad run it's tough to turn the bus around. Equally, when things start going your way on the golf course you tee it up and think every day is going to be a good day. I'll post my 2012 tournament schedule on the website soon and when it all kicks off again I need to make sure I get on with generating the right kind of momentum in my game.
That's about it from me for this year, though. As always, I want to thank everyone who took the time to email and write to me over the course of the year. I appreciate your continued support and your kind words really mean a lot.
Thanks also for visiting the website. We're always looking at ways to enhance the online experience and we have in the pipeline some great new content. I'll be putting in my maximum effort to try to make sure that it includes some tournament wins.
In the meantime, I send you my best wishes for the festive period and hope that the New Year brings you good health and happiness... and plenty of birdies!
Dec. 12, 2011
Last week's Dubai World Championship summed up in four days my entire year I think. I couldn't have made a sweeter start to the tournament, making a nice birdie on the tough par-4 opening hole on Thursday morning, then ended up shooting 74. All in all, a real mixed bag. Then I was bogey-free on Friday and thinking, 'Okay, let's go low over the weekend' only to shoot 73-70 to finish back in the pack. Fundamentally my game is in decent shape; I just haven't been able to put it all together over four rounds. As I said, it's been the story of the year.
The story of the year isn't over yet, though, and today I can take great pleasure in telling you about the Ernie Els Invitational presented by SAP, which takes place this week at Fancourt. This event has been going for some years now and each year helps raise valuable funds for the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation.
Lots of my friends from the world of sport and business are taking part in this year's Invitational, which takes the form of a two-round tournament played in a modified pro-am format -- guys like Springboks legends Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tiaan Strauss and Bob Skinstad, Olympic gold medal swimmer Roland Schoeman and rugby coach Nick Mallett. Also here are some of my fellow tour pros, among them Anton Haig, Thomas Aiken, George Coetzee, Richard Sterne, Louis Oosthuizen and James Kamte (the latter two both being former members of our Foundation). I'm pleased to say Louis Calitz is here, too. He won the inaugural Big Easy Tour Championship at Els Club Copperleaf last month. Also very welcome are some of my old friends Des Terblanche, Denis Hutchinson, John Bland, Simon Hobday and Phil Simmons.
Anyway, we always have a lot of fun together and it's a relaxed atmosphere. With the fantastic support of my long-term sponsor SAP and our other sponsors, we are at the same time able to do the serious stuff of raising lots of money for the Foundation, which for the last 11 years has been supporting talented young kids from families of limited resources here in South Africa. It has been another fantastic year for the Foundation and it's always exciting for me to receive updates about what the kids are doing. I'd like to highlight a few of the recent standout achievements here.
In the past 12 months six of our members have represented South Africa at various age groups: Drikus Bruyns, Conway Kunneke, Dylan Raubenheimer; Thriston Lawrence, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Izel Pieters. Also, former member Jared Harvey won the South African Amateur Strokeplay at Mount Edgecombe in January.
Dylan Raubenheimer and Ian Snyman were part of the four-man South African U16 team who visited Italy in August, finishing third among the 18-nation field. That same month Leorin Pillay won the North Coast Championship by a four-stroke margin. Meanwhile, our EEFF girl members dominated play at the SA Rosebowl at Clovelly. Kim Daniels took the honors with Zayb Kippie second, Izel Pieters third and Kelly Erasmus in fourth. Incidentally, four of the foundation's most outstanding young individuals -- Dylan Raubenheimer, Shaun Smith, Izel Pieters and Mojalefa Xaba -- will be visiting me in Florida in the New Year and I very much look forward to that. I'll make sure it's a week to remember for all of them.
I could go on. These kids are seizing the opportunity we've given them and are achieving great things, not just on the golf course but in the exam room, too. We have 32 members for 2012 and we're very proud of them all.
This week's Invitational features a welcome dinner, braai and charity auction. Then we wrap things up with a gala dinner and prize-giving. It's a lot of fun and, as I said, every year we raise a lot of money. It's a win-win situation for everyone and a nice way to end the year. I want to personally thank SAP and everyone else for taking part.
You can follow updates on the website: http://www.ernieelsinvitational.com/. Hopefully you like the new addition on the website with our twitter feeds. If so you can follow this week's action by following @eeinvitational, or some of the players - @victormatfield, @bobskinstad, @rolandschoeman and @bryanhabana.
Okay, that's it for this week. I'll write again next week, my final report of the year, where I'll reflect on 2011 and look forward to 2012.
Bye for now.
Dec. 5, 2011
The European Tour's Race to Dubai reaches its conclusion at this week's Dubai World Championship and, although I'm out of the running for the top honors, it's great to be back here. Obviously there are some strong ranking points up for grabs and having recently dropped out of the world's top 50 that has added significance for me. A couple of good results and I'll be quickly heading in the right direction again.
I've lost count of the number of times I've played tournaments in this part of the world and, of course, in recent years Ernie Els Design was proud to create the Els Club Dubai. I'll try and pop in and see the guys while I'm here.
So this is somewhere I'm very familiar with and, talking of familiar, I've got my long-time caddie Ricci Roberts back on the bag this week. Amazingly he's been coming here even longer than I have and he was with me when I won my first Desert Classic all those years ago. We both feel very comfortable here and always get such a warm welcome from everyone. It really is a fantastic place to come play golf.
This is the European Tour's grand final, its Tour Championship if you like, and is a celebration of the strength of today's European Tour. I'm sure it will be another great week in the desert. My previous two appearances in this tournament were personally nothing to write home about, tied-28th last year and tied-50th in 2009. Obviously I'll be disappointed if I can't find a way to improve on those numbers.
This is the third year that we'll be playing Greg Norman's new Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates. The course has matured during that time and I understand the greens are showing more consistency. I heard also that they've been over-seeding this year due to the later staging of the event and that will provide a tougher and more consistent level of rough than the previous two years. It's a good test all round and, at more than 7,600 yards it's a pretty long test, too.
Saying all that, if the past two tournaments here have proved anything it's that you need to make a bunch of birdies to get yourself into contention. I've managed that half of the bargain both times here, but I've also made too many mistakes. That kind of mixed bag never gets the job done.
Anyway, I've had this past week off to re-charge the batteries, which was what I needed. I was suffering from an eye infection, which slowed me down a bit, but I'm just about raring to go again now.
I'll be sure to write again next Monday, which signals the start of the Ernie Els Invitational tournament at Fancourt. That's always a great week in my schedule and I look forward to telling you all about it in my next report.
Bye for now.
Nov. 28, 2011
Jack Nicklaus created a fantastic golf course at Serengeti and I was pleased that I was able to come here and defend my title, especially as it looked like it might not be possible just six months ago when the date clashed with the Presidents Cup. Also, as a kid I played a lot of my golf just down the road at Kempton Park, so it was nice to see some familiar faces in the gallery. I wish I could have put on a better show, not just for the fans but also for my own satisfaction. This was my final tournament of 2011. It's been a very tough year and I would have loved to finish on a positive note.
Actually, the first couple of rounds I played pretty solid. I felt happy with my swing and was getting used to some of my lines off the tees and feeling comfortable with the golf course. A pair of 69s was a nice way to start the tournament and it left me in decent shape going into the weekend. Also my putting stroke was feeling good those first couple of rounds, especially on Friday. With the greens as great as they are on this golf course I was confident I had a low number in me over the weekend.
How wrong I was. To be honest, I played some scrappy golf out there on Saturday and Sunday. I don't know what happened. I guess I just 'fell off the bus' big time. The game's tough on days like those.
How to sum up a week like that? Well, first of all I want to congratulate Hennie Otto. He's won on tour before, but winning your national open is a very special moment in anyone's career. I know how excited he'll be and I'm really pleased for him.
Personally, of course I'm stating the obvious when I say it was disappointing. I just don't know. My golf seems stuck in the same pattern it's been all this year -- playing nicely in stretches, hitting a lot of good shots, but just not scoring. I've been waiting a while for the putter to come around and finally I feel like I'm making a few more putts than I was, say, six months ago. But it's not the finished article yet.
Even though the South African Open was my last tournament of the year I'll continue to practice and play a lot of social golf over the next four or five weeks so I need to find a way to try to further improve my performance on the greens and get myself in a position where I can start next year strong. That's got to be my goal now.
Anyway, there'll be plenty to write about in the coming weeks leading up to the end of the year, so be sure to come back soon. In the meantime, there's one more item of possible interest. If you're not sure of a present for the golfer in your family (or for yourself!) how about a lion headcover just like the one I've used all through my career? The company that makes them, Daphne's Headcovers, has for a long time generously donated a percentage of the sale proceeds to the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and it will continue to do so in the build-up to Christmas. You could say this is one gift that gives twice.
Okay, that's about it for now.
Nov. 21, 2011
Okay, so let's first recap last week's Presidents Cup. We arrived at Royal Melbourne excited about the prospect of a repeat win here and the team spirit was great. Obviously it was disappointing to lose, but we definitely held our own. The only difference was the Foursomes matches, which really hurt our chances. We knew at the start of the week that would be the hardest one for us and that's how it worked out.
What can we learn from that? Well, I guess that's the million-dollar question. We've always struggled in this format and I think part of the reason for that is the Americans have more experience in Foursomes than we do. I thought what Greg tried was the right game plan. Several of the players on our team had a lot of experience around Royal Melbourne, whereas other guys were rookies on this golf course. You need to know this course to know how to play it, so the strategy was to put experienced players with rookies. Like I said, I think that was the right idea but playing alternate shot you're often struggling to find a rhythm, especially if you don't get off to the best start.
In my first three matches I was paired with Ryo. He's a great young guy. He's already a superstar in Japan, but pretty soon he's going to be a superstar wherever he plays. He's got a great heart, too. We played pretty good the first couple of days, but just got outplayed by Bubba and Webb. They were very strong. We might have won some points playing other matches, but it didn't work out that way. That's match play golf. It was nice to get a point on the board in Saturday's Foursomes against Matt Kuchar and Bill Haas, but that was a tough session for our team.
It meant on Sunday we went into the final day's Singles matches needing a miracle, a Brookline miracle! We knew it could be done and we were up for the challenge, but at the same time we knew it was going to be a once in a lifetime deal if we did pull it off. Our lead-off guys did a great job, but there was no miracle this time.
I would have loved to get more points on the board. Just one win from five matches was extremely disappointing for me personally. But I want to sum up the week by saying it was a privilege to be part of the International Team and to play with these great guys, all champions. And Greg, Frank, Tim and the rest of the guys all did an unbelievable job. These weeks stay in the memory.
And seriously, what a venue! I've been coming to Royal Melbourne for a long time now and I've never experienced anything like the mix of conditions that we had in the space of a few days. It was amazing and all the players were truly tested. At the end of the week the one thing we could all agree on, win or lose, this is an unbelievably good golf course. Basically, as good as it gets.
We left Melbourne on Monday morning and I've just arrived in South Africa for this week's Open at Serengeti Golf Club. Before that I have a golf day at the Els Club at Copperleaf to celebrate the official launch of this wonderful new facility -- that's if the weather holds up, because it looks like we're in for some bad weather on Tuesday. Fingers crossed we get lucky. This course was built on land once owned by my grandfather, so right from the start this project has been very close to my heart.
The golf course is fantastic and the estate encapsulates in one destination everything I love about family living, from home and leisure to the great outdoors, all set in a country club environment. Once Investec Property came on board we knew that with the right partners we could create something unique and that it would be the best place to open the first Els Club in South Africa. We're all proud of this club.
On Wednesday I start my preparations to defend my title, always a special experience but especially when it's your national championship. Winning last year at Durban in the tournament's centenary year was one of the highlights of my career and the final round battle with my old friend Retief was one of the most incredible days I've had in 20-plus years as a professional golfer. That win really meant a lot to me.
Last year I came into this week needing a spark to bring my game to life and it happened pretty much from the get-go. In fact, it was one of the best putting weeks of the year for me. I could really use some of that magic again. I know I've said it before, but my game is in a pretty healthy state. I'm just not making the putts that you need to make in order to lift yourself out of the pack and into contention.
Obviously this is a great week for South African golf, for the players and the fans, and as you'd expect I'm really looking forward to it. I always do. I've won this thing five times and it would feel incredible to add a sixth title to the list.
On the subject of South African golf there's one more point of interest, which I thought I'd bring to your attention. Garth Mulroy's win in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at the weekend was the 100th South African victory in the history of the European Tour. I think that's a wonderful statistic and one that our nation's golfers can be proud of.
And on that positive note, I'll sign off!
Nov. 7, 2011
My first tournament in three weeks, the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, was a bit of a mixed bag of birdies, bogeys and pars. At level par after 36 holes, I really needed to produce some fireworks to get myself into contention. It's possible on this golf course. I've done it before, but not this time. There were bursts of good scoring, but as I said, the consistency just wasn't there. A 4-under par aggregate and tied-33rd place finish was I'd say probably a fair reflection of my all round game. I'm definitely banking on something better at this week's Barclays Singapore Open.
Before I get on to that, however, I just want to fill you in on a few off-course activities that I'm engaged in between finishing the HSBC and teeing it up in Singapore this week. Ernie Els Design currently has some exciting golf course design projects in Malaysia and this week has been the perfect opportunity to complete a few site visits. As I post this website report I'm just back from a long day with my design team. It's been a very positive day. We've got some great partners on these projects and it's exciting to be able to play a part in developing the game of golf in Malaysia.
Anyway, moving on to this week's golf. I'm looking forward to this week's Barclays Singapore Open. I've been a regular visitor over the years and always really enjoyed my time here. Barclays does a great job with this tournament and the people here are so friendly and welcoming to all the players. We get really good crowds at the tournament, as well. As I said in last week's website report, I've finished second in this event on two occasions. Adam Scott beat me in a sudden-death playoff in 2006 and then a couple of years later I finished just one shot behind the winner Jeev Milkha Singh. It would be nice to go one better, obviously.
This is probably the strongest lineup they've ever had for this tournament, which is co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour, and that's great news for everyone involved. Teeing it up this week are players from all over the world, guys like Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk, Webb Simpson, Phil Mickelson, Graeme McDowell, Padraig Harrington, Y.E. Yang, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas and Louis Oosthuizen. I think it reflects the growth in the game in this part of the world.
This tournament has a slightly different format to most, as for the second successive season a starting field of 204 players will compete on both the Serapong and the Tanjong courses. Players alternate both courses for the first two days and after the halfway cut is made we'll compete on the Serapong at the weekend.
That's it for now, though. I'll write again soon.
Oct. 31, 2011
I've had three weeks off from tournament golf. It's been busy, full of interesting events and I've really enjoyed it, but it doesn't take long before I start missing the buzz of tournament play. Fact is, I always look forward to getting back into the swing of competitive golf and this week's World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions tournament is a great event.
Right now I'm posting this website report from Hong Kong. I arrived here from Palm Beach on Sunday evening and tomorrow I'll be taking part in a golf day for one of my sponsors RBC. I signed with the company at the start of this year and I'm proud to represent the brand and meet with its clients. Together we support a lot of worthwhile charities, too. It's quickly developed into a nice relationship.
Actually, the next couple of weeks will be a bit of a "Far East Swing" for me, as I'll be in Singapore next week having recently added the Barclays Singapore Open to my playing schedule. I've enjoyed my time playing in that event in recent years, having registered a couple of runner-up finishes, and this year looks like the strongest line-up they've ever had. It should be a good week for everyone involved. I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Let's just concentrate for now on this week's HSBC in Shanghai, which has become a real must-play tournament on the top player's schedules.
Like the Barclays this is another tournament where I've played well and come close, but not yet managed to win -- notably in 2009 when I shot a final-round 63 to finish second behind Phil Mickelson. I made 22 birdies and two eagles that tournament, including my ninth career hole-in-one, so it was quite a week! Last year I finished comfortably inside the top 10 as well, so I've got good vibes coming in here.
I like the golf course and the guys do an outstanding job with the tournament. Ask any player and they'll tell you it is one of the best weeks of the year. As I said before, I'm looking forward to it and looking forward to putting in another strong performance on this golf course. I like the way they set it up and the closing stretch in particular is designed in such a way that there's potential for an exciting finish come Sunday afternoon. Obviously I very much hope to be right there in the mix.
Before I sign off there's just one final thing. If you didn't catch my online diary last week you missed all the news on the Els for Autism Golf Challenge Grand Finale where I spent a weekend in Vegas with the winners and top fundraisers from the regional events held right across America this year. If you like the sound of that and you fancy playing your part in next year's event, visit our new dedicated Els for Autism Golf Challenge website. Okay, that's about it for now. I'll write again soon.
Oct. 25, 2011
One day in New York and then another couple of days in Las Vegas is even for me a pretty extraordinary weekend. It's certainly one that I'll remember for a long time.
Last weekend's New York Wine Experience lived up to its billing as one of the industry's premier gatherings and it was good to be involved; even better to have the opportunity to speak at a seminar on the virtues of sport and wine - two of my favorite subjects! Alongside me on the stage were Greg Norman and fellow vineyard proprietors, baseball legend Tom Seaver and former NFL quarterback Drew Bledsoe. They're great guys and each has some really nice wines that I recommend you try.
As I post this website report I'm still in Vegas, midway through proceedings at the Grand Finale of the inaugural Els for Autism Golf Challenge. Liezl and I have both been overwhelmed by how much this event has been embraced by the golf community in the U.S. and this final weekend has been incredible. So many people have gone to so much effort to help us and honestly it's been a pleasure to be part of it.
We really didn't know what to expect from our first year, but the support we've had from the teams taking part, their donors and our sponsors has been phenomenal. We had over 1,700 people take part with a total of $1.7 million raised thanks to some 8,500 donors. Over 50 teams also qualified for the Vegas Grand Finale weekend via the $10,000-plus fundraising route. The top team alone raised more than $50,000. As I said, the response has been incredible. You can read the press release to get all the key information.
The Grand Finale takes place over three of the area's best courses - TPC Summerlin for the winners from each of the qualifiers and Cascata Golf Club and Rio Secco Golf Club for all of the high fundraisers. Everyone is staying at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Vegas where Liezl and I host two nights of parties. The Welcome Party went extremely well and it seemed like everyone was having a great time. We certainly enjoyed ourselves.
After the top amateurs finish their tournament at TPC Summerlin, the top-five teams have the extra bonus of playing in a Pro-Am Shoot Out. Each team will be joined by me and fellow PGA TOUR professionals Dustin Johnson, Rich Beem, Dean Wilson and Bob May. I'm just about to drive there now. We're giving a bit of a teaching clinic this morning with Butch and Claude Harmon at Rio Secco and Cascata. Tonight everyone is back at Planet Hollywood for the awards ceremony and South African Braai presented by SAP - it should be great celebration of everyone's achievements.
So it's not over yet, but I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part and to SAP as organizing sponsor and all the other supporting companies - including Callaway, RBC and Wine Spectator - that made this event possible. Liezl and I want to make a difference to kids on the Autism spectrum and their families and with this kind of collective support we know we can.
I'm pleased to say we've created a dedicated new website for the Els for Autism Golf Challenge Grand Finale. Visit the site and see highlights from the event. You can also sign up to all the latest E4A news and events coming up, including all the information you need in order to take part in the 2012 Els for Autism Golf Challenge.
Meanwhile, over in South Africa some other significant events have been taking place. The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation has hosted its Annual Awards Ceremony, which this year took place at the Ernie Els Wines vineyard in Stellenbosch. Also, at Sun City the charity CANSA for which I am patron held a fundraising golf day. I'll make sure we have reports from both of these events published live on the website this week.
Okay, that's about it for now. I have another week off from tournament golf before I hit the road again and embark on a very busy month starting with the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai. I'll write again and tell you more before I leave for that event.
Oct. 17, 2011
It's my birthday today (42 in case you're asking) so thank you to everyone who sent best wishes via the website. Much appreciated. We didn't do too much to celebrate, just had a braai (for the non-South Africans out there that's our version of a barbeque) at the house on Sunday night with some friends and family. All very chilled, which is exactly how I like it. I'm not one for big birthday celebrations generally.
Actually this whole week coming up is going to be pretty chilled. This is a week off from tournament golf, but obviously I'll spend some time working on my game here at the Bear's Club. With a couple of big tournaments coming up I want to be in a position to play my best golf. Also to a certain extent these next couple of months are about getting my game and my mindset right for the start of the 2012 season. This has been a poor year and I need to take stock of that and make sure next year is way better.
Anyway, later in the week I'm off to New York. The world's most prestigious wine publication, Wine Spectator, has once again invited Ernie Els Wines to be a part of the New York Wine Experience taking place right in the heart of Manhattan at the New York Marriott Marquis this coming weekend. This event is a fun, action-packed three-day festival of the world's finest wines and some of the guys from Ernie Els Wines will be there offering tastings. Meanwhile, I'm one of a team of guest speakers presenting a 'Sports and Wine' seminar on Saturday morning. It should be good.
In fact, it's been a good month all round for Ernie Els Wines. We've just received some high ratings and glowing reviews of some of the wines in our portfolio, including the Ernie Els Signature and Big Easy blend, which is very gratifying. Ernie Els Wines also hosted a really nice dinner at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. Wines from the portfolio were served at tournament dinners throughout the week.
Back to this week and once we're done in New York I'll be jumping on a plane to Las Vegas for the Grand Finale of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge. I've written about this tournament fairly extensively since we had the official launch at the beginning of the year and there is plenty of content elsewhere on the website.
What I would add now is my appreciation to everyone who has jumped on board and made this tournament such a great success in its first year. Liezl, myself and the rest of the team at Els for Autism are genuinely overwhelmed and touched by the level of support that we've received. You have our personal gratitude and I very much look forward to meeting all the tournament winners and top fundraising teams in Vegas this weekend. Trust me, it's going to be a great few days!
Okay, that's about it for now. I'll write again soon.
Oct. 10, 2011
You'd expect me to be pleased after registering my first top-10 finish of 2011 (at the Frys.com Open) -- and yes, in many ways I am. I've really committed to playing myself through this slump and that's exactly what I've done. The wheels are starting to turn now and I feel that the hard work I've put in is starting to come through. I'm starting to feel comfortable again. However, I'm also a little disappointed about the weekend because I felt like I played good enough to get myself into the playoff and maybe have a chance to win.
I came up just short, but it was a good week all in all. The fans were fantastic and the course was in excellent shape. I can't complain. I thought even right to the end that I still had a chance. Right up until Briny (Baird) chipped in for eagle I thought I could win. Even then I figured, okay, if I make birdie here and then eagle the 18th I might get into the playoff. I've learnt in my career that you can never give up until the end.
As it turned out, rounds of 69, 66, 67 and 68 for 270, 14-under par, is my best four-round aggregate of the year and my first top-10 finish on this year's PGA TOUR. A lot of that is down to the fact that I hit so many greens in regulation. I hit my irons really solidly and led the Frys.com (Open) tournament stats in that category. Actually that part of my game has been pretty strong all year. I see I'm still leading those stats in Europe.
My putting isn't quite the finished article yet. Don't get me wrong. I made a lot of good putts throughout last week. I just feel that if I want to get to that next level and win golf tournaments, I have to start making more of those sub-10 footers at crucial times. I did that all the time when I was winning three, four or five times a year. I have to start doing that again. At least I know what I've got to do.
The thing is, it's getting more comfortable all the time. I'll be the first to admit I didn't think it was going to take this long. I thought once I'd made the decision to go with the belly putter I'd be well used to it inside a couple of weeks. Maybe on the practice putting green you get to that point, but in tournament play it's different. You've got to find a way to get into the same position every time and that's not easy. Like I said, though, it's getting more comfortable and I'm starting to feel it now. I've stayed patient and it's starting to work.
Okay, I've got a couple of weeks off now before I play my next tournament, the HSBC Champions in Shanghai at the start of November. But there's a lot happening between now and then, including the Grand Final of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge in Las Vegas, so make sure you come back soon for regular updates.
Bye for now.
Oct. 3, 2011
Didn't shoot the low scores I needed to last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship but regardless of the result, the format of this tournament, the whole atmosphere and the way it is run always makes it fun. It is wonderful playing here. Obviously we're on three magnificent golf courses, which is a treat for lovers of links golf like me, but also the people are great. They don't go too crazy for bad shots and not too crazy for good shots, either. With the weather we had the first couple of days, it's as close to perfect as you can get.
I've played with my dad many times in this event and we always have a fantastic week. It's a shame we didn't do better this time. Dad maybe needs a couple more shots on these golf courses and I need to play better, but I cherish these weeks. As I said, it is a stunning competition and on Sunday I had the bonus of playing golf with one of my heroes, the Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, which was brilliant.
With conditions as calm as they were it was a seriously low scoring week and you needed your putting boots on in order to compete. I basically never got it going on the greens. Over many years now I have played the game at a certain level, but I've had a very 'off' season and I need to find a way to refine my game a little bit more. I also need to work on my short game a lot and get that back to where it has been before in my pro career. It takes time and it takes a lot of effort.
I'm optimistic, though. I mean, you see someone like Darren Clarke winning the Open and he's pretty much the same age as me. Then Vijay having done what he's done in his 40s and way back Ben Hogan playing some of his best golf in his 40s, there is still hope. I believe there is a lot of good golf left in me, especially at certain events where I feel comfortable. In majors I really feel that I have a chance because with experience you know what to expect and how to play under that pressure.
So yes, I've had a rough season, but I'm looking forwards not backwards. I'm looking at the events I have left this year, including obviously the Presidents Cup, and looking at ways I can make sure that next season is a lot better than this one.
Anyway, as you may already know I've added this week's Frys.com Open to my playing schedule. It is the second event on the Fall Series on the PGA TOUR. Having only just returned from Scotland I've got 24 hours at home then I head west across to California to the CordeValle Golf Club, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design in San Martin just north of the Monterey Peninsula. This is a new one on me, but the golf course is in a beautiful setting and it looks very good. Wonderful resort I hear, too.
Okay, so that's about it for now. I want to conclude by sending my congratulations to Louis Calitz who won his maiden pro tournament at the Sunshine Big Easy Tour Championship held last week at Els Club Copperleaf. As I said last week, I was honored that the Tour put my name to this series of events and it's been a great success in its inaugural year. I hope Louis and all the other tournament winners are able to push on now and take their careers to the next level. I wish them well.
I'll write again next week.
Sept. 26, 2011
Last week I filled you in on some breaking news about consolidating the management support for my on-course professional playing activities to new offices in Florida. Well, I have further news on that front, and I can now confirm that I have appointed the recently formed sports management group ProsInc to take care of my management and marketing representation. The company has offices here in Florida headed-up by Vinny Giles and Buddy Marucci, two well-known amateur golfers.
I've known these guys for a long time. Not only does Vinny have one of the great records in amateur golf, he also has a very successful 30-year plus record in sports management. Buddy's credentials in the golf world and as a businessman and leader are equally impressive. I am excited to have them and their team representing me. My goal of having my business team located here in Jupiter is now complete.
Anyway, let's move on to other matters. This week, the Sunshine Big Easy Tour Championship is being held at the Els Club Copperleaf in South Africa. This mini-tour was established earlier this year as a means of providing a wider cross section of professionals the opportunity to play in competitive strokeplay events.
The first of 10 events was played back in March and here we are now at the conclusion of its inaugural year. It's been a great success. It's fantastic that the Sunshine Tour is providing such opportunities to young up-and-coming professionals in South Africa and I want to say again how proud I am that they asked me to become involved. I think a lot of credit is due also to Stonehage for its sponsorship of this tour. I've enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with the guys at Stonehage and they do so much behind the scenes for the game of golf.
Obviously, many congratulations to all the tournament winners. This is such an exciting time in a young player's career and I remember that phase of my career like it was yesterday. Those early wins mean so much and hopefully they can all push on from here. I wish all the competitors the best of luck. Play well and enjoy the week!
This week's Dunhill Links Championship is one of the most enjoyable weeks of the year for me. I get to partner my dad, play three great links courses and have some fun out there. Play is rotated over the first three days on the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns and then we play Sunday's final round on the Old Course. It's always a fantastic event on the European Tour's schedule and this year I would say the field is probably the strongest it has ever been, with three of the year's four major champions and the world Nos. 1 and 2. Good to see Dustin Johnson over from the States, too. He'll draw some big crowds.
My dad and I really look forward to this week. We don't get to spend much time together during the year and we don't play much golf, either. This redresses the balance on both fronts, so it really is a special week for both of us. Obviously, for all the professionals in the field this is a big money tournament and we're out here to win. But at the same time, the atmosphere is very different to a regular tour event. I'd say it's definitely a little bit more relaxed and I like that for a bit of a change.
Looking at the long range forecast for the east coast of Scotland it predicts sunny weather with temperatures in the mid-20s centigrade. That would be perfect for fans and golfers alike. This is a wonderful part of the world and if we get the weather to match, it really is hard to beat. This week I also get to stay at one of my favourite hotels in the world -- the fantastic Old Course Hotel. That's always a treat.
Of course, everyone knows how much I love playing links golf. Hopefully I can play some good stuff, make a few putts and get myself into the mix come the weekend. I'll tell you all about it in next week's report.
Bye for now.
Sept. 19, 2011
You'll have noticed a new look to the website (ernieels.com) this morning, a temporary measure but one that celebrates the official launch of the new Els Club Copperleaf. This was a very special design project for me personally. My late grandfather, Ernie Vermaak, grew up on this exact piece of land. He was a great character and was responsible for first putting a golf club in my hands. For this to now become the first ever Els Club in my homeland -- the second such project in our design portfolio after the opening of the Els Club Dubai in 2008 -- makes it even more special.
Right from the start we recognized this as a fantastic site for a golf course. It's a beautiful part of the world with great views of the Magaliesberg mountain range and with Investec Property on board we knew we could create something unique, using the natural features of the landscape and protecting all that the environment has to offer. I would go as far as to say that Els Club Copperleaf encapsulates in one destination everything that I love about family living in a Country Club environment. The course is spectacular and represents a fair and enjoyable test for golfers of all standards.
Els Club Copperleaf becomes one of a premier collection of golf courses that bear my name. Each embodies the character of some of the world's most important golf destinations, with facilities and standards inspired by the very best of the golf clubs I have played in my 20-plus years touring the world. With the wonderful new full service clubhouse, which offers great food, a relaxed and a welcoming atmosphere as well as the Copperleaf Spa, cricket ground and indoor and outdoor swimming pools, we couldn't be more proud of what has been achieved here. It is bound to become a popular and sought after address. Click here to visit the website: http://www.copper-leaf.co.za/
Last week started with me playing in Cliff Kresge's annual pro-am to support the Kresge's Krew Foundation, which raises money for a number of organizations whose mission is to support autism research and awareness. Cliff and his wife Judy are great friends and like us they have an autistic child. This is close to our hearts and it was the third straight year I've played in this event. Cliff does so much for us and for the Els for Autism Foundation, so it's nothing for us to come up here and support him. The event has grown in stature and in terms of the support given from our fellow pros. Cliff had some veteran golfers turn out here this year and some young guys who will be on TOUR next year. It says a lot about the game of golf that so many guys give back in this way. Together we can be such a big influence on these kids' lives.
Anyway, I left there and got to Chicago on Tuesday morning and straight away started my preparation for the BMW Championship. Obviously I'd put myself in a pretty awkward situation by not playing well through the regular season. It was a real battle to get into the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup and I've been just scraping through each week, an interesting experience but, if I'm honest, one that I'd rather not repeat any time soon!
I knew I had a lot to do at the BMW in order to secure my place in The TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. I figured a top-three finish would get me into the top-30 on the points list, but I didn't play well enough to come close to achieving that. It's disappointing, but I have to look forward now and try to make the best of what is left of this year. I still have some great events to look forward to, not least the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in November. It's an honor to be on the International team again and I think we have a nice mix of young guns and experienced veterans. Greg (Norman, International team captain) announces his two captain's picks later this month, which makes up the final team of 12. We'll be all fired up for this match. Last time we played the Presidents Cup 'down under' we came out on top, so obviously everyone is focused on a repeat of that experience.
The good thing is I feel like I have somewhat turned the corner in my game and put behind me the really poor play from earlier this year. I have to give some credit to the belly putter. Yes, not so long ago I was very outspoken about it. Now I'm contradicting myself and using it, but the fact is I've putted better during the latter half of this year and I think it's helped me. Overall I feel a bit more positive about things now.
That's about it this week from a golfing perspective, other than to say that I've added the Frys.com Open in October to my playing schedule.
I'll conclude with some news about my on-course management arrangements. With me now spending much more time in the US I have made the decision to consolidate the management support for my professional playing activities to the new office that we opened in Jupiter, Fla. last year. I feel like it's the right time to make this move. After so many years based in the UK and traveling the world golf circuit since turning pro, it is nice now to consolidate our activities in one place.
As you probably know, I've been with Chubby Chandler since 2004 and I want to thank him and all the ISM team for our time together. I'm proud to have been associated with one of the most talented stables in world golf, including my fellow major winners Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke as well as World No.2 Lee Westwood. I wish everyone at ISM continued success.
Bye for now.
Sept. 12, 2011
It's been a battle to get into this week's BMW Championship in Chicago, but just being here is not enough for me. As I said last week, I desperately want to keep the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola on my schedule and to do that I need to lift myself from 68th on the FedExCup points list and into the top 30. This battle just got a little bit tougher! Only four players broke into the top-30 at last year's BMW. The year before that it was just two, so I'm up against it. The stats indicate that I'll need a top-three finish to advance to East Lake.
We're back at Cog Hill's No. 4 course on the outskirts of Chicago. This is a great golf course and I hear it's in really good shape for this year's tournament. It had a major renovation by Rees Jones in 2008 where they reconstructed all the greens and greens' complexes, reshaped the fairways and repositioned all the bunkers. When we went back there for the 2009 BMW I thought they'd done a great job. It has an almost U.S. Open style feel to it and the challenge is much the same. You have got to hit fairways to go low around here. And I need to go low.
The last three weeks I've been keeping my game tight and doing a pretty good job of minimizing mistakes, but this week I need to do more than that. I need to keep my game tight but also make some birdies. I know exactly what I have to do and in some ways that can be a positive thing. It helps focus the mind. A win here and suddenly I'm inside the top-five going into TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and with every chance of winning the whole thing. That would be quite a turnaround. Right now, though, if you offered me a top-three finish, I'd take it and happily pack my bags for Atlanta.
Before I sign off, there are just a couple items of news to update you on...
• First of all, I've made a decision to withdraw from next month's Shui On Land China Golf Challenge. I was looking forward to this event. I've been playing tournament golf in China for a number of years now and have seen the game grow there, so an opportunity to carry that on in a unique format like this was going to be real fun. The chance to spend a week with Liang, Rory and Ian playing some of the greatest golf courses in China is a hard thing to give up, but with such a busy schedule, I had a difficult decision to make. I'm sure it will be a great success and I wish the organisers and my tour colleagues the best of luck. I hope I can participate next year.
• Also, you'll have seen recently on the website that the famous No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil Dodge showcased the Els for Autism Golf Challenge logo at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day weekend. Millions of motorsports fans follow NASCAR and attend races, so this was a great chance to spread the Els for Autism message to an even wider audience. I saw that Kurt Busch drove a great race to finish fourth, his 13th top-10 from 24 starts this season. Those are the kind of stats I like! I want to thank him for his efforts and the rest of the guys on the team for making this happen. It helps further raise awareness for autism and day-by-day we get closer to creating the Els Center of Excellence in Florida.
That's it for this week. The BMW Championship is calling. Wish me luck!
Sept. 6, 2011
The last three weeks I've been really under the gun and in some ways the emotions and the stuff that I've been going through have been similar to trying to win a golf tournament. Of course I wouldn't have chosen to be in this position, but in some ways it's been good for me. It's brought out more of the fight in me. I think adversity makes you stronger at the end of the day, so maybe this is what I needed in order to get my game back into shape. I feel like things are really starting to fall into place now.
Obviously I was pleased to get into the Deutsche Bank Championship, not just because it was such a close-run thing but also because I love TPC Boston. As usual it was in fantastic shape and the greens were probably the best we've putted on all year. I knew if I could get a decent stroke going I could make some putts.
The first couple of days were quite a contrast. My first round was all about survival and keeping it together. I didn't feel like I swung it great, but I got it round in under par and that's what I haven't been doing this year. My bad days have been costing me 75s and 76s. Shooting 70 doesn't do you any harm. You can build from there and I did just that. Friday was one of the nicer rounds I've had this year. These are the days I've been working so hard for. I hit it nicely and the putter is starting to cooperate a bit better now. A 6-under-par 65 got me well inside the cut line, which was my first objective at the start of the week, and better than that got me right into the mix going into the weekend. It's been a while since I've been able to say that.
A level par 71 on Sunday put me in a tight position, though. I went into the final round tied-19th and projected right on the bubble in 70th place on the FedExCup points' standings. So the top-20 finish that I predicted at the start of the week would probably get me into the BMW in Chicago was pretty much spot on. There was a lot of pressure. I knew if I didn't perform in Monday's final round I wouldn't advance to the BMW and I could forget teeing it up in the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola as well.
My goal all day was to try to get to 10-under par, as I figured I'd be safe on that mark, but the holes coming in played quite tough and I missed some fairways. That made it even tougher. The situation was tight all day and on the 18th tee I glanced at the leaderboard and saw that I was in 71st place in the FedExCup. I knew I had to make birdie to get through and the strange thing was it felt harder than leading a golf tournament. I mean, if you screw up on the 18th and finish second you're still going home with a $600,000 check. But I knew if I didn't make birdie here my season was over and I was going to miss out on a lot of golf, so I was really happy to hole that six-footer for birdie. That was a real knee-knocker!
Actually, I was really happy with the way I holed out coming down the stretch. I made some crucial putts. I haven't done that all year, but here I got the ball up and down when I needed to. That should do a lot for my confidence going forward. Seriously, I'm starting to feel more like my old self again.
Anyway, I haven't celebrated a tied-14th finish like this for a long time. It is probably my best result of 2011, which says all you need to know about my year. It's been tough, but it's nice to get something back. After the final round someone in the media told me that from the second hole in my first round I went 38 holes without a bogey, my longest streak since the 2003 Mercedes Championship. That was good to hear. The last three weeks I've been keeping my game tight, which is the way I've always played in my career -- minimize mistakes, don't hit many loose shots and get it up and down. That's what I've had to do the last three weeks, so I'm pleased.
Right after the PGA Championship I had an opportunity to call the year an end because I was outside the top-125, but I didn't do that. I figured I needed to play and feel some pressure if I was going to turn this thing around -- basically, test my nerves and my whole game. As I said before, I think it's been good for me. Now I want to keep fighting, keep working hard and try to make sure that I'm in Atlanta for the TOUR Championship in a few weeks time. It won't be easy, but I feel extremely motivated and I'm going to give it maximum effort.
I'll write again next week and update you on all my news.
Until then, bye for now.
Aug. 30, 2011
I'm certainly not making this easy on myself. I was 124th going into the Wyndham Championship, with only the top-125 making it into the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Then the top-100 from the Barclays progress into this week's Deutsche Bank and I'm 99th. I'm just about managing to survive out here. In some ways it feels like a kind of desperation. It's sadistic and in a way I guess it's fun, if you're into that! Personally, I prefer the pressure of being in the mix, but this is the situation I've got myself in. Giving it 100 percent is the only way I know and I'll keep fighting to get my game to the level I want it to be and that is competing and winning golf tournaments.
For now, I'm not quite there. It's close, though. It really is. At last week's Barclays we knew it was going to be a low scoring week, especially given that the golf course was softened up after all the recent rain. That in some ways weakened the main defence of this classic old Donald Ross layout, namely the greens, which have some pretty severe slopes on them. I hit a lot of greens in regulation; that's been the strongest part of my game this year. I just didn't make the putts I needed to make in order to push myself up to the top of the leaderboard, but overall it was a solid week's golf. Scores of 68, 69 and 67 put me at 9-under par and tied-32nd.
After I'd finished my round I had a pretty nervous 90 minutes watching how the FedExCup points were working out. It was changing all the time and, as a few of the guys made some late birdies, I quickly dropped a couple of places and it was getting pretty tight. In the end I was 99th on the points list and with 100 players making it through to this week's Deutsche Bank I live to fight another day.
I've put a lot into my game all through my career and these past six months it's been a battle, to be honest. I just need to find a way to step it up to the next level. Now would be a good time! Only the top-70 players from this week will make it through to the third FedEx Cup playoff event, the BMW Championship. I need to perform.
So, this week's Deutsche Bank is at TPC Boston again. It is an Arnold Palmer-designed golf course and opened for play barely 10 years ago, but you wouldn't know it. This place has a mature, almost traditional feel about it. It's in a beautiful setting, too, in the lovely New England landscape. I really like it. I hear there was no major damage to the golf course from Hurricane Irene blowing through, but the guys have had to work flat out to clean up the debris and get everything perfect for this week.
As I said before, it's impossible to make the calculations and predictions in advance, but my best guess is I'm going to need at least a top-20 finish this week, maybe even better than that. As I was saying in my previous report, I have to stay patient and not push too hard, because that's when you can make a big number. I can't afford that. There's a lot of pressure. I want to stay the distance in this thing and be one of the 70 players who tees it up in the BMW and then one of the 30 who plays in the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola. I've missed that tournament only once since 1994, aside from the year I missed through injury. Obviously I know I've got some work to do.
I'll write next week and tell you all about my week.
Aug. 22, 2011
I was just outside the top-125 going into last week's Wyndham Championship, so for me it was like my Playoffs started a week early. I knew I couldn't afford to slip-up, so to go out there and shoot 9-under par for my first 36 holes was very satisfying. Although I wasn't able to push on and really contend at the weekend, at least I'm back in the FedExCup race. That was my main goal. Now if I have four good weeks, I can maybe turn around a poor year and make it a good one.
Let's just briefly rewind to last week, though. As I said before, I knew I had to play well over the first couple of days because this is always a low scoring week. Basically, I couldn't afford a slow start. A good time to shoot my lowest round of the year, then! Seriously, I was really pleased with that 65. I hit a lot of greens and made some putts. All in all it was a nice, solid round of golf. Obviously a long way to go, but this was a nice way to start and I was definitely looking forward to the rest of the week.
Friday I hit the ball probably better for those 18 holes than I have all year. I've worked on my fundamentals with Claude Harmon recently and coming in here I felt like I'd definitely found something. The putter was starting to come good also. I changed my set-up in the second round of the PGA Championship and suddenly I felt more comfortable. The putter was staying lower to the ground back and through so I was getting a sweeter roll on the ball. I really felt like something had clicked.
I knew over the weekend I'd have to keep making birdies to keep up with the pace, but at the same time I knew I had to stay patient and not force the issue. There was a lot to play for and, to be honest, it kind of felt like going back to Q School all over again. You want to keep going forward and to keep making birdies, but in the back of your mind you don't want to mess up too badly and make a big number somewhere. Any of the guys in this position, even those with plenty of experience like me, will tell you that it's not a particularly comfortable feeling.
Anyway, I didn't play quite as well over the weekend as I had on the first couple of days, but I did what I had to do. I stayed patient and didn't get frustrated. I kind of grinded out the result that I needed in order to get inside the top-125. Now I'm in and, as I said in my introduction, anyone can win this thing. That's what The Playoffs are all about and that's why I changed my plans and fought so hard over the weekend to be in this position. As we saw in last year's FedExCup, the points reset means you can get right in the mix in a hurry if you have a good start to the Playoffs.
That's what I'm focused on now. I know I have to have a good week, because only the top-100 will advance to the following week's Deutsche Bank Championship. Let's just take it one week at a time, though. For this week's Barclays we're at another classic Donald Ross course for the second week in succession, the Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey, which is consistently rated among the best courses in America.
Having had to contemplate the thought of not being able to play this week, it's almost like I have some added excitement just teeing it up here. I need a couple more days like my first two rounds in Greensboro for my confidence to get close to where I want it to be, but that was a start. If I can take some of those positive vibes and play well the first two rounds here this week, I can develop some momentum. Then who knows? Maybe I really can turn this year around. At least I have the opportunity now.
I'll write again next week. Before then, however, I just want to point you in the direction of the section on Ernie Els Design. Recently we've had photographers out and about shooting stunning new images of our design projects including Albany in the Bahamas, Anahita in Mauritius, Hoakalei in Hawaii, Whiskey Creek in Maryland, Mission Hills in China and Wentworth's West Course in England. Why not take a look at the photos? You'll see why everyone at Ernie Els Design is so proud of these courses and what has been achieved. I'd like to think it might also inspire you to one day go play one of them or indeed any one of the other courses in the Design portfolio.
Okay, bye for now.
Aug. 15, 2011
Everyone predicted in the buildup to this year's final major of the year that Atlanta Athletic Club was going to be very hot and it was going to be very tough. It was certainly both of those. The golf course was fantastic, though. You couldn't ask for a better-manicured course and the set-up was fair. I just didn't play well enough. There were spells of good play, notably on my first nine holes on Friday morning, but I made too many mistakes and on a demanding golf course mistakes are severely punished.
Missing the cut in a major championship is obviously very disappointing. I don't really need to expand on that point. Of course, the added consequence on this occasion is that it places me outside the top 125 on the FedExCup standngs and therefore at this point I'm not yet eligible for the PGA TOUR Playoffs. The PGA Championship was going to be my last FedExCup qualifying event. I really don't want to miss out on those big events and a chance to tee it up in the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, so that's why I decided at the weekend to add this week's Wyndham Championship to my schedule. This really is last-chance saloon, as they say. There is little point going into the various calculations and permutations here ... that could take a while! The simple fact is if I play well I'm in and if I play poorly I'm more than likely not. It's in my hands basically.
This is an historic tournament in its own right, on a classic Donald Ross design, so there is much to look forward to this week. Sedgefield Country Club is one of the premier private golf clubs in America and hosted the Greater Greensboro Open for more than 50 years. Some of the game's greatest players won that event -- legends such as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Gary Player and Seve Ballesteros.
Anyway, I hear the updates that they've done to the golf course in the last few years have retained the essential character of this Donald Ross masterpiece, while taking into consideration the advances in golf equipment technology. Being a passionate golf course designer myself, I'll be interested to see that. First and foremost, though, I've got my player's hat on here. This is traditionally a pretty low scoring week and I need to find a way to get something going. I'll start work on trying to figure that out when I arrive at the golf course for my first practice round on Tuesday afternoon.
I've only played this event once, a top-10 finish in 1997, but that was on a different golf course. Another top-10 here would be a pretty good result for me I think, especially given the circumstances. Let's see how we go. I'll write again next Monday and by then I'll know what I'll be doing for the rest of this month and into September.
Bye for now.
Aug. 8, 2011
I went into last week's Bridgestone Invitational -- the third World Golf Championships event of the year -- with the very clear intention of giving it 100 percent commitment on every shot, every step of the way. I'm satisfied that I fulfilled at least that half of the bargain. I was really grinding hard out there and although my play was what you might call a bit of a mixed bag, I shot the best scores I could on the day and it was encouraging to finish the week on something of a high note. That final round 68 was my best of the week, having shot consecutive 71s the first three days. It left me one-over par and tied-37th.
That wasn't enough to achieve one of my goals in Akron, basically to get some significant FedExCup points on the board and secure my place inside the Top 125 for the Playoffs. It means I'm going into this week's PGA Championship in 126th place and, as this is the final counting event (on my schedule), needing to make something happen. The mathematics will probably get pretty complex come the weekend. I have to forget all that and just go out there and produce the scores I know I'm capable of.
Not that I need any extra motivation this week. This is a major championship and that's more than enough to get any golfer's juices flowing. The majors are what we play for and it's the prospect of winning these tournaments that still drives me.
We're back at the Atlanta Athletic Club, which hosted the PGA in 2001, and physically I think we can expect a very demanding week. It is hot here -- and I mean seriously hot -- and the golf course is a tough test. It is longer, tougher and faster running than the set-up that we played 10 years ago. I've spoken to a few of the guys who have played practice rounds in the last couple of weeks and they describe it as very difficult, very long and very tight. That's pretty clear, then!
Actually, from tee to green it's a straightforward test. Obviously you've got to hit fairways, because as we know the rough in the PGA Championship is typically very thick and I believe it's no different this year. The greens are going to be the real challenge -- they have quite severe slopes and from what I hear they're going to be firm and fast, so that is where the game will be won and lost. Ultimately, though, these championships test every aspect of your game. You have to be mentally and physically strong to contend and win. There's no faking it here.
I'll fly in Tuesday morning and play my first practice round later that afternoon. On these big weeks you have to pace yourself, especially with it being so hot in Atlanta right now. You can't afford to do too much or you run the risk of struggling with your energy levels come the weekend. I have enough experience to avoid that scenario.
As you can imagine I really look forward to these big weeks. And as usual I'll be sure to write again next week and tell you how it all goes.
Bye for now.
Aug. 1, 2011
The whole family had a wonderful vacation in Portugal's Algarve last week, which is something we actually don't get to do as much as you might imagine. I love these times that we have together and it really was the perfect way to unwind and relax. I need to really get down to business this week, though. It's a big fortnight of golf coming up for me and I'm totally focused on playing some good golf.
Only the top 125 on the FedExCup rankings get into the playoff series, which starts at the end of August, and I'm currently in 132nd spot. There are only two counting events remaining (on my schedule) -- this week's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and next week's PGA Championship -- so the situation is pretty clear. I have to focus on getting myself 100 percent ready for this week's Bridgestone, try to play a solid first round and take it from there. The game doesn't change; you still have to hit it in the fairway, hit greens and make some putts.
Firestone's South Course is a layout that we TOUR pros all know very well. They've been hosting championships here for five decades and it's a great venue. At 7,400 yards the par of 70 is a good test and therefore traditionally it's not a super-low scoring week. Something in the region of 10-under par often puts you in the mix here.
Anyway, I like the golf course and I feel pretty fresh after last week's vacation. My last tournament score was a 66 in Canada, the low round of the day, so I'll be looking to build on that and see if I can carry the same form into Thursday's first round and beyond. I'll write again soon and tell you all about it.
Okay, bye for now.
July 18, 2011
Obviously with the kind of record I have enjoyed in the Open Championship over the years I always go into this week with high hopes, even though on this occasion I knew my recent form hadn't been as good as I'd have liked. On the whole I hit the ball pretty nicely. I just made a couple of mistakes, which cost me heavily, and I didn't make enough of the sub-10-footers that make or break your score in these championships. Hats off to my ISM stablemate Darren Clarke, though. I've known him a long time, he's a good friend and I couldn't be happier for him. It's great to see someone striking a blow for us 40-somethings. I'm only sorry I missed the party!
My week started with a special award from the Golf Foundation recognizing our work at the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation to help nurture developing golfing talent in South Africa. Of course, we're all very proud of what we've achieved with the foundation and, to be honest, young kids making the most of their opportunities is more than enough reward. But at the same time it's nice to get these awards. It's a pat on the back for all the guys back at Fancourt for the wonderful work that they do.
I have to say I loved the way the R&A set up Royal St George's this time. The rough was up, but not so much that you had to wedge it out. The fairways were playing firm and fast, just as they should on a links course, and the greens were in fantastic shape. It was tough, but it was a perfect set-up and very fair. The weather was pretty crazy out there at times, but hey, this is an English summer. It's not so unusual really.
As for my golf game...well, I think we got a little bit unlucky with the draw the first two rounds and it was maybe a couple of shots tougher on Thursday morning and Friday afternoon. But I can't use that as an excuse. Having not missed the cut in 18 consecutive years of playing this event as a professional, it's now happened two years back-to-back. That really doesn't sit well with me, I can tell you that for a fact.
Anyway, moving on. This week I'm playing for the first time in the RBC Canadian Open in Vancouver. Before I was a professional golfer this used to be one of the biggest and most prestigious events on the PGA TOUR and I know everyone involved in this tournament wants to elevate it back to its former glory.
For sure there's a good field assembled this week and I hear the golf course, Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club which celebrates its centenary this year, is a real gem with great views of the mountains and downtown Vancouver. RBC has to be congratulated for its commitment not just to this tournament but also to the game of golf. I'm one of nine RBC golfing ambassadors on TOUR. I'm happy to be here and it'll be nice to tee it up somewhere new...and even nicer if I can find some game and get something going.
I'll write again next week and tell you all about it.
Bye for now.
July 11, 2011
Any time that an area has as much rain in a few days as it would normally get in the space of five months is obviously not good news for a golf tournament. Certainly Castle Stuart, Barclays, the players and all the fans deserved better, because this is a great tournament and it has a fantastic new venue. But hey, this is the British summer time. Mother Nature calls the shots and sometimes you don't get what you wish for! It was a shame for everyone involved and obviously very frustrating.
Links golf's biggest defense is the wind and to a certain extent also the firm playing conditions so it was disappointing that we had neither at Castle Stuart. Still, we got to tread the links turf and smell the sea air. I felt comfortable out there and although the conditions were softer under foot than we usually see on a links course, there were situations where you could play links-style shots and I felt like my mindset was where it needed to be in order to visualize and play those shots.
For the most part I hit the ball well all week. With no wind to speak of it was a very low scoring week, so 11-under par for the 54 holes played wasn't exactly shooting the lights out, but this was probably the best competitive golf I've played in a while. I'll take some encouragement from that. Overall I arrived at Royal St George's this morning way better prepared than I was this time last week, so that's good.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that the Open is my favorite tournament of the year and Royal St George's could be the toughest of all the courses on the Open rota. It has everything. It's very linksy and very long -- in fact, it's 100 yards longer than it was in 2003. It's been stretched to 7,211 and the par has been cut by one shot to 70. Certain holes, such as the 3rd, 7th, 9th and 15th are significantly longer than before. The 4th hole, with the famous huge bunker in the fairway, has actually been reduced in length, but whereas before it was a par-5 it's now a 495-yard par-4.
Another real feature of St George's is there are lots of humps, bumps and hollows not just in the fairways but around the greens' complexes as well. You will get bad bounces, but you will probably get some good bounces, too. You just have to accept what the course throws at you and stay mentally strong and above all stay patient. That's the name of the game here, but you could honestly say that in any major.
The last two Opens here have seen very different scoring patterns. In 1993 it was a pretty low scoring week. I remember it well because I became the first man in history to shoot four rounds in the 60s in an Open. Trouble was, Greg Norman did it 40 minutes later and his total was seven shots better! The last round 64 that Greg shot that day is one of the all-time great rounds in major championship history.
In 2003 scoring was much tougher. Ben Curtis was the only player to finish under par and I think I'm right in saying that the lowest score all week was 67, so no one was able to go crazy out there. Amazingly, Ben's winning aggregate of 283 was bettered or at least equaled by a total of 47 players here in 1993. How about that? It really gives you an idea of the difference it makes when the wind blows at St George's.
Having been here at the beginning of last week for a practice round, my feeling is that if the wind blows I can't see anyone shooting under par over 72 holes. The set-up is very good and very fair and the greens are in fantastic shape, but this course is just such a serious test. And as I said before, it's a par-70 now and not par-71 as it was in 2003. I've said throughout my career that I like a golf course where par is a good score, so personally I hope the wind does blow. No one wants it ridiculous out there, but links golf needs wind. It's the way this game is meant to be played.
I'll play a practice round every day between now and Thursday and basically avoid all other unnecessary distractions. As always, the objective is to get my mind and my game in the right place for when the gun goes. This is my 21st appearance in the Open Championship and in all I've had 12 top-10s. Everything about this tournament gets me excited. I love it and obviously I'd love to have a strong week.
Whatever happens, I'll write again next week and tell you all about it.
Bye for now.
July 4, 2011
It was unfortunate me having to withdraw from the AT&T National last week, but I've learned not to take any chances with my fitness. I was feeling the effects of the slight back strain, so I took a couple of days rest at home in Florida and then towards the end of the week we flew over to London to stay at our house at Wentworth. I wanted to get over here as early as was practically possible so I could be fit and ready for this week's Barclays Scottish Open. I'll write more about that later in this report.
One unexpected bonus of being on this side of the Atlantic last week was that Liezl and I were lucky enough to get tickets for Wimbledon Centre Court on men's semifinals day, one of the best sporting occasions of the year in my book. We sat with Gary Player and a host of other sporting stars and had a great time. As a sporting arena I'd say Centre Court is up with the very best of the best. The atmosphere is incredible and it really is something else to watch these top guys up close. In my teens I was pretty handy at tennis, but I must say seeing them play makes me glad I chose golf.
I've spent much of the last few days up at Castle Stuart, getting a first look and playing a few holes at this incredible new links course on the northeast coast of Scotland. Genuine new links courses don't come along very often and certainly not of this quality. It is an outstanding layout, a great test of golf and a wonderful setting.
Obviously I'm a big fan of the previous venue for this tournament, Loch Lomond, and you'd have had to say that it would be a seriously hard act to follow, but Castle Stuart is definitely up to the job. It's just as special and spectacular in its own way and it really is a superb venue for the Barclays Scottish Open. I've won this tournament twice in my career and to complete the hat trick here this week would be a huge thrill.
I mentioned in last week's report that a lot of players are going to be excited at the prospect of playing back-to-back tournaments on links courses, Castle Stuart this week and Royal St George's next week for the Open. I know I'm looking forward to it. This style of golf never fails to excite me. I love everything about it and, as is evident from my record of 12 top-10s in Open Championships, links golf often seems to bring out the best in me. It suits my eye and I think the fact that you have to use your imagination and be creative with your shot making is good for my mindset.
Anyway, let's see how we go. As I said, I can't wait to tee it up at this golf course. We've got a wonderful venue, Barclays is a great supporter of golf, and the Scottish golf fans are the most respectful and knowledgeable in the world. All in all it should be an outstanding week's golf for the European Tour.
I'll write again next week and tell you all about it.
Bye for now.
June 27, 2011
You didn't need to be able to read between the lines to tell that I felt pretty downbeat after missing the cut at Congressional, but putting that behind me I wanted to start this week's report by saying how grateful I was for the messages of support. I lost count of the number of emails we received through the website and, although it's hard to find time to reply to everyone individually, you should know that your messages are very much appreciated and each one means a lot to me. Seriously, thanks again.
I was scheduled to play at this week's AT&T National, but unfortunately I have had to withdraw due to a slight back strain. So my next tournament is the Barclays Scottish Open at Castle Stuart Golf Links in Inverness. I've always looked forward to this tournament and now that it's moved from Loch Lomond to this new links layout it also happens to be the perfect preparation for the Open at Royal St George's. I think a lot of players are really going to enjoy back-to-back weeks of links golf.
For me personally, it's a very exciting prospect. As most people know, links golf is my favorite style of golf. I love the purity of the challenge, the way you have to use your imagination and hit different shots all the time depending on the conditions. There's nothing else like it. And from the photos I've seen, Castle Stuart looks like a spectacular golf course. I'm excited about playing there.
Anyway, that's all coming up next week. Before I sign off for today, though, I just want to update you on the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, which continues to go from strength to strength. Over the past month or so golfers from South Florida to Seattle have been testing their golfing skills on some of the country's finest courses and momentum has continued on the fundraising side with almost $500,000 contributed from the first nine super-regional events. We have almost 1,000 golfers signed up to play and that number is growing daily. In total there are now approximately 4,500 people either playing in Els for Autism Golf events or donating on the website. It is all very impressive for our rookie year on tour!
I very much look forward to seeing all our regional winners and top fundraisers in the grand final in Las Vegas in October. If you fancy joining us -- and trust me, that trip is going to be a blast -- you'll find all the information that you need in order to take part at the official website: www.e4aGolf.com. So why not jump on board? You'll have some fun and you'll be helping a really great cause, the proposed Els for Autism Center of Excellence.
Okay, that's it! Bye for now.
June 20, 2011
As you can imagine I was pretty excited about going back to Congressional for the U.S. Open, having won my second major championship here back in 1997. I went into that week with not a lot of form, much like this year as it happens, but through the practice days I managed to find my game and my confidence snowballed. I literally went from nowhere to on top of the world in the space of a week. I guess I was hoping Congressional might have the same effect on my game this time around. I desperately wanted to have a good week, so to play as I did and miss the cut really doesn't sit well with me.
I really thought coming into this week that the course set-up would suit me, especially when I saw that the conditions were quite soft and the greens were not running out so fast. Sure, the golf course is a lot longer now, but with the way technology has come along the last 10 years it actually plays almost the same way as it did in 1997.
In the first round I would say scoring conditions were about as easy as you'll ever get in a U.S. Open, although easy is a relative term. This is still a very tough test of golf, but it was a fair test and there were opportunities for birdies out there. I should have been 4-under par at the turn, having missed a bunch of opportunities, but I turned in just 1-under par and then I made double on 11. I hung in there pretty good the rest of the day, but I knew I had a lot to do to make up some ground in round two.
Then on Friday -- well, what can I say? I felt good on the practice ground, then I four-putted my first hole to make double. That's just not right. I mean, what are you going to do after that? I wasn't really on my game all day and I never made a single putt. In fact, I never made a putt all week. It's been the story of my year up to now.
It's only a couple of days after the event, so I feel pretty low right now. I've been doing this for a long time and I've had a lot of success in the last 20 years, but I need to take stock and re-evaluate where I'm at with my game. I'm working as hard as ever and I'm just not getting anything out of it. I need to find a way through this.
Anyway, I can't end this report without congratulating my ISM stablemate Rory McIlroy on his first major win. The first time I saw Rory play I thought he was incredible. And he is incredible. He's got all the talent in the world and his performance at Congressional was as good as you'll see. He's a future world No.1 without a doubt. I said before that when he breaks through and wins a major it could open the floodgates. Well, he's only just turned 22 and he's got that first major under his belt. I think you'll see Rory McIlroy winning a lot more of these things.
Okay, that's about it for now. I've got this week off, but I'll write again soon.
June 13, 2011
This is going to be a special week for me, returning to Congressional where I won my second U.S. Open in 1997. So this week's championship feels like a defense of sorts and as a player that's always something you look forward to. Congressional is also one of my top-10 favorite courses in the U.S. and I have some good feelings, some great memories from my win there. Maybe this is just what I need to help make something positive happen. I arrive on Monday afternoon to get started on that process.
Actually, there are some parallels in my game this year and in 1997. Back then, my results in the build-up to the U.S. Open were not great, but I felt like I was playing better than I was scoring. It's the same this year. I feel like I've been playing well for a while now, but I'm not getting it all together and my results reflect that. There have been good rounds but not four good rounds in the same week.
Obviously there would be no better time than now to turn that around. Congressional is an extremely tough golf course but I had a good game plan that week in 1997 and I felt like I was in control of everything. I'll be trying to feed off that experience again this year. The key thing when I won, the really big thing, was my putting. Finishing my third round on Sunday morning I remember I hit some key shots to make birdie on 15 and 17, but the par saves were probably more important. I made some big putts and that gave me a lot of belief going into my final round. You need that belief in any tournament but especially in the final round of a major championship.
I remember then on Sunday afternoon I holed a chip on the 10th for birdie, which gave me a share of the lead. Then I made a few nice little 'knee-knockers' coming down the stretch. Even the putt on 18 was no gimme, it was at least 4 feet, but I hit a good putt into the heart of the cup. Moments like that; it's just the best feeling. You really can't describe it. I'd love to experience that again.
Back in 1997 they had a lot of rain the week before the championship so the fairways were soft and the greens were holding. Although that makes the course play even longer that it already is, it's more playable than if the course is firm and fast. However it turns out this year, the USGA likes the U.S. Open to be the toughest test we players see each year. They want to make it a fair test where good shots are rewarded and only bad ones are penalized. I think they've had the balance about right in recent years.
The one thing that definitely won't be the same as in 1997 is the course layout. This is a very different golf course now. It's significantly longer, more than 7,500 yards off the tips, mainly gained through the introduction of seven new tee boxes. And it will play as a par-71, rather than a par-70 as it was when I won.
I've played the course in its new configuration and I like what they've done. The key change is the old par-3 18th hole is now the 10th and it's longer than before. For the guys starting their rounds on that hole it's going to be a really tough opener. That means the old 17th hole, where I hit one of the shots of my life in the final round in 1997, is now the new 18th -- only again it's significantly longer. It's 521 yards now and players may need to hit a mid- to long-iron in there, off a downhill lie with water still guarding the green. It'll be a great finishing hole.
Anyway, I feel like if I can just get off to a steady start this week and put a couple of solid rounds under my belt, then I like my prospects going into the weekend. Like I said, sometimes a week like this where there are such special memories is what you need in order to change your mindset and start something positive.
I'll write again next week and tell you all about it.
June 6, 2011
I'll start this week with just a brief tournament sum-up from the Memorial. I played some good stuff and hit a lot of greens in regulation in the four rounds, which on that golf course should have been the platform for a solid week's scoring. My scorecard told a different story, though. Any birdies that I made were soon offset by bogeys and I finished at 2-over par and tied for 61st. Not much else to add to that, really.
I traveled back to Florida on Sunday evening, but I have just one day at home because on Tuesday morning I'm taking part in a golf day in New York for one of my new sponsors RBC. I'll be there alongside another RBC golfing ambassador Jim Furyk.
These types of day tend to be relaxed and Jim and I will do everything to make sure that is the case here. It's a shotgun start and we'll play one hole with each group, mingle and chat with guests and just have a bit of fun. After the reception and prize giving at lunchtime I'll be heading off to the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association Awards Dinner, also in New York, where I'm privileged to receive the Winnie Palmer Award for the work we've done to raise awareness and funds for autism.
This is quite an honor, not just for Liezl and myself but also for everyone who has been involved in helping establish the Els for Autism Foundation. I'll accept this award on their behalf, too. This event is in its 60th year and is attended by 600 or so people from the worlds of business and golf. It should be quite a night.
Back to the day job, though, and later this week I'll head to Congressional to play a practice round in advance of next week's U.S. Open. This is where I won my second U.S. Open in 1997 so going back there feels like a defense of sorts. The golf course has changed a lot since I won there, though. I've seen the new layout and I must say I like what they've done, but this early practice round will be a good "sighter" for me. It helps get my mindset exactly where I need it to be for a major and it gives me a head start in my preparations, so when I get to Congressional next week I feel like I've already gone some ways to getting properly ready for the first round.
Anyway, I'll write again next Monday and talk some more about what it means to me to be going back to Congressional and how I'm preparing to give it my best shot.
Until then, bye for now.
May 30, 2011
It was great to be back at Wentworth for the first time this year -- one of my favorite places in the world -- and having had a day to reflect on my week's efforts I'd say there was a subtle but definite step in the right direction in my game. On a golf course as tough as this anything around level par for 72 holes, which is pretty much where I was at, I'd classify as more than respectable. Hopefully I can build on this.
I had a bit of a slow start on Thursday, although the playing conditions were extremely challenging. Luke (Donald) going out there and shooting 64 is probably one of the rounds of the year. Anyway, I played a lot better on Friday and even at the weekend I was so close to getting a run at the leaders. It just wasn't quite there, but relative to the form I've shown these past few months I'm fairly satisfied. The Odyssey White Hot belly putter I was using felt pretty good, too. I made some putts out there.
As was the case last year, the Ernie Els Design renovations of the West Course were a big talking point. I expected that. The gratifying thing for everyone involved in this project is that nearly all of the players understand what we've done and appreciate the logic and the execution. There were a few exceptions, but people often say things in the heat of the moment. A guy comes off 18 when he's just made a double and obviously he's going to be hot under the collar. Unfortunately, the way these things are reported you only hear the negative comments and very little positive. What a player says two minutes after finishing might not be indicative of his opinions two hours later.
I believe the course has never looked better and the majority of people seem to share that view. It's a fantastic layout. The greens were in great shape and running nicely and the whole course and the bunkers had been manicured really well. Sure, if you are a little bit off your game, then the penalties on the West Course are a little bit more severe than in the past. But that's how major championships are played out these days and the BMW PGA at Wentworth is the European Tour's major. This is a real golf course now. Forget about going 24-under par any more, it ain't happening. It is a better course, a better all around test of golf, and above all it is a fair test.
As for the 18th, well, the green is almost twice as big as last year. It's gone from some 380 square metres to 586; that's a huge change. A few people say it's too tough, but if you're in the right position in the fairway you can realistically go for this green in two. And after the adjustments we made in the winter there's a bailout area now. ...
It would have been nice to stay on at Wentworth for a few more days, but I'll be back in the U.S. by Tuesday lunchtime and straight into my preparations for this week's Memorial. This is another of my favorite stops on TOUR. I started loving this place long before I won the tournament in 2004. Obviously would love to win it again.
Actually, the year I won here was probably one of the top-three best putting performances of my career. I remember I had exactly 100 putts for the four rounds that week. I'll be trying to tap-in to those good memories again and see if I can make my share. As I said before, I started to putt quite nicely at Wentworth last week.
Okay, that's it for now. I'll write again next Monday.
May 23, 2011
This week it's the BMW PGA Championship on the West Course at Wentworth, the flagship event on the European Tour and every year one of my personal favorite stops in my playing schedule. You could call this part of the world pretty much home turf for me, having had a house here on the Wentworth estate for more than 10 years. I know the ins and outs and twists and turns of this golf course probably as well as any other course in the world. And this is a wonderful tournament -- one that I believe can hold its own in the very highest company. Everything about it is pure class; the golf course, the field, the way the tournament is run and the way the players are looked after. Also the British golf fans are among the best in the world.
This year's tournament is that bit more special, as it is the first time all four current major champions are competing in the field. Two of them are South African, both fine young men and good friends of mine, which is a great showcase for our nation's golfing talent and I know a real inspiration to many young kids back home. I've seen first hand the excitement from the boys and girls at the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation at one of their own winning a major championship. It's great to see.
So, it should be a great week for the players, the fans and for the European Tour in general. I perhaps don't need to remind anyone that the West Course has undergone some renovation and modernization work in the last few years, drawn up and overseen by myself and the rest of the team at Ernie Els Design. Updating a classic golf course, one of the most famous in the world in the case of Wentworth, is an honor and at the same time a huge responsibility. We're proud of what we have achieved and we feel it has firmly established the course as one of the game's finest inland layouts.
After last year's championship a decision was taken to make a couple more minor adjustments; to the eighth green where we've softened the spine running through the centre of the green; and primarily on the 18th where we lowered the green by 50 centimeters and made the putting surface bigger by 25 percent. We also carried out subtle re-contouring to the green complex, making it somewhat more inviting for second shots.
In the case of the 18th I guess you could say it's taken two bites of the cherry to get it exactly as we wanted, but this ultimately is the best solution for this iconic finishing hole. It's a fair balance of risk and reward and that small extra margin for error definitely makes a difference to a player's shot selection. I believe more guys will take it on in two at this year's championship. I hope so, anyway. It may help produce an exciting climax, which is what a tournament of this stature deserves.
My general form coming in here has not been as I'd like, but maybe these familiar surroundings and the comfort of staying in my own house every night will help me get back on track. You never know with golf. I'm obviously looking forward to it, though.
I'll write next Monday and tell you all about it. Before I sign off, though, I just want to update you on the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, which teed off at PGA National in Florida earlier this month. The first four of the 28 super-regional events have been wonderfully supported and already we're fast approaching the $250,000 mark for fundraising, with much more to come. Again, Liezl and I want to express our thanks to everyone who has jumped on board. For more information about the Els for Autism Golf Challenge and how you can take part, click here.
Okay, bye for now.
May 16, 2011
I honestly can't remember the last time I missed three straight cuts, but when you lose a bit of confidence it can happen to anyone and especially on a type of golf course such as TPC Sawgrass where there's very little margin for error. I decided to give the conventional putter another try, but there was no real improvement. Obviously I need to find a way to play myself out of this situation pretty quickly, because the meat of the season is upon us. Anyway, despite all that, last week will go down as one of the highlights of my professional life as I was able to share with my family and close friends a very special day at the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Johann Rupert and Gary Player said some very nice things to me, which really meant a lot coming from them. Johann gave me some opportunities early in my career and has always supported me and supported the game of golf in general. He's a great man and a great friend. And from a young age my dream was always to win majors and to try to do what Gary Player did, win the Grand Slam and win a bunch of golf tournaments.
I guess I haven't quite matched the achievements of Gary, but I feel like I've won my share of tournaments and I've become a global golfer just as Gary has been all his life. You don't get inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame without doing something to catch people's attention and I'm proud of what I've done. And I was proud to have my family and close friends at the ceremony to share this with me. I get another chance through this website diary to give them the credit they so deserve.
My parents were always incredibly supportive right from the start. My mom, the taxi driver to junior golf tournaments for so many years back in the day, has been amazing and to be honest she never gets enough credit. My dad, too. He always had a talent for golf, but working so hard he never had much of an opportunity to play. Then he met my mom, and my mom's dad got him to the golf course, and within a year my dad was a 1-handicap, so that says something about the golfing talent that runs in our DNA.
I've got an older brother who is a very good player, too, and I've got to give him a lot of credit for where I am today. He's older than me and he would wrestle me to death. But he instilled a big, competitive drive in me because I was always trying to beat my older brother, although in the early days that didn't happen often. I have a wonderful sister, too. With all of us in the family playing golf and all the other sports she had to put up with a lot! She has a great family now and I like to think my nephew will follow in my footsteps, because he's a great young player.
And, of course, special thanks go to my wife Liezl who has been my rock since we met in 1993. We have two beautiful children, Samantha and Ben. Samantha is becoming quite sporty herself now. She's got a pretty good swing, but I don't think she's got the patience for it yet. And my beautiful son Ben who I believe will play the game some day, too. He loves watching me practise. He'll sit there for hours and just watch the golf balls take off in the blue sky. I feel blessed to have such a great family.
It's funny, at times like this you can't help but think back to the early days. When I started playing the game with my brother, golf wasn't really an Afrikaans sport. We were known as rugby players. You just didn't play golf. When I was in high school I would travel around and play in junior golf tournaments and I started to do pretty well. Then I'd go back to school and the guys would laugh at me, they'd say things like "why are you wasting your time playing golf? Come play rugby".
Golf has been good to me, though, so it wasn't such a crazy idea, was it!
Anyway, I've got this week off and then I'm heading over to London at the weekend to play in the BMW PGA Championship at my beloved Wentworth. I'll write and tell you all about that before I get on the plane. In the meantime, I just want to say thanks for the messages of support and congratulations that you have sent me via the website this past few weeks. As always, your kind words are greatly appreciated.
Bye for now.
May 9, 2011
These past few months I've been concentrating hard on my game so I haven't let my mind wander too much towards the World Golf Hall of Fame. But these last few days I've been able to really start enjoying it. We had a lovely dinner here on Sunday night -- just family, close friends and some of the past inductees. It was a special evening, one of those times where you look around the table and feel very fortunate in life.
Today is the real deal, though, and as you can imagine it's going to be a pretty full-on day. The ceremony starts at 6:00 p.m. ET and I understand this will last around 90 minutes. My great friend Johann Rupert will be introducing me and, if you know anything at all about the man you'll understand me when I say I'm looking forward to hearing his speech more than I am to making my own! Seriously, Johann has done an incredible amount for the game of golf and he's been a great friend to me over the years. I couldn't think of anyone better to make this address on my behalf.
And actually I'll be fine once I get up and start speaking. Obviously people know pretty much all there is to know about my professional career, but it'll be nice for me to talk a little bit about the early days and it also gives me an opportunity to thank some important people in my life. I shouldn't give too much away here, though.
I'm glad to say there are lots of very special people here to share this day with me -- obviously Liezl, my children, my parents, basically all of my close family, and some old friends, too. Gatherings such as this don't come along very often and I'm genuinely touched that so many people have made the effort to come over. For some of them in particular it's been a long journey. Gary Player couldn't be here, which is a shame, but I hear he's recorded a video message and if I know Gary, that's bound to be entertaining!
Anyway, after the ceremony there is a Gala Dinner. It's going to be a great night and I'm looking forward to it. That's about all for now, but we'll have a full report on the Hall of Fame events on the website, plus some photos and I believe video content, too. So be sure to look out for that in the coming days.
For me, I'll have to quickly come back down to earth and switch my focus to playing competitive golf again and getting ready for this week's PLAYERS Championship here in Florida. As usual I'll give you a full tournament report next Monday.
In closing I could not write this report without mentioning the sad passing of Seve. It's hard to put into words what Seve meant to everyone in golf and it's impossible to measure his contribution to the game. Seve was such an iconic figure and really the flag bearer for European golf over many years. He opened up so many doors for Europe's players by winning all over the world and particularly in America. It's fair to say that the European Tour would not be what it is today without him.
Seve really was my hero when I was growing up. I loved everything about him -- the way he looked, the way he played the game, his passion and his fighting spirit. What a man! As years went by I modeled so much of my game on him. So for me to then fulfill my dreams and be able to compete with Seve was a privilege. Our match in the 1994 World Match Play Championship at Wentworth was perhaps my standout memory of the many times we played together. It was a great match, an unforgettable day and I felt honored that I was able to share centre stage with him. He was a fierce competitor, a great winner and, on the days when his massive talent and big heart just weren't quite enough, a gracious loser, too. He was so kind and said some very nice things to me and to my dad that day at Wentworth back in 1994.
I was lucky enough to call Seve a great friend, but for anyone who loved golf and sport he was a great man, a proud man and a great champion. We will all miss Seve.
May 3, 2011
Obviously any time you miss a cut in a tournament you're disappointed. And missing two consecutive cuts is double the disappointment. Tee to green is a little off just now, but I guess a cold putter continues to be the vital missing link in my game. After only two tournaments, these are early days for me with the belly putter. Having used a regular putter all my life I must admit I feel slightly embarrassed using it, but when I start making putts I'm sure I'll soon forget that!
Some of the guys are giving me a bit of stick, most of it good-humoured, about using the belly putter. I need to give it a decent go, though. As I said, it's still a bit of a new process. Compared to my putting stroke the last few months, which had become a little awkward and across the line through impact, the belly putter helps keep the putter on a better plane going back and through. It's a purer stroke, definitely. I just have to give myself a chance to work through the early stages of getting comfortable with it under the gun. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. In the coming few days I'll try to get more comfortable before THE PLAYERS Championship next week.
Moving on, I'm very pleased to report that the E4A Golf Challenge teed off in some style this week, with the first super-regional tournament, taking place at PGA National here in Florida over the weekend. I hear it was a great day, with a full field of 44 teams combining to raise $140,000 for Els for Autism and our proposed Center of Excellence. Congratulations to Tom Fiocchi and Mike Weeks from Bear Lakes Golf Club in nearby West Palm Beach. Their winning score was 140 with Mike shooting a great round of 67. That's serious golf. There were also three teams that raised well over $10,000 and are on their way to the Grand Final in Vegas later this year.
The second event at TPC Scottsdale took place on Monday. As at PGA National we had a full field there also so I'm expecting great feedback from that event, too. We'll post a report from Scottsdale soon, plus I'll make sure there are regular updates here on the Els for Autism Golf Challenge throughout the summer.
I'm so grateful to everyone who has registered their interest since we launched the Els for Autism Golf Challenge in Hawaii at the start of this year. The guys tell me that as of today we have more than 1,200 people participating either as team players or donors, which is amazing. Again, thank you all for jumping on board with this cause.
I've got this week off at home in Florida, but I have some things to organize in preparation for next Monday's induction ceremony at the World Golf Hall of Fame, which is going to be a huge day not just for me but for the whole family. South Africa is a long way to travel from, but obviously my immediate family will be coming over and I'll have some close friends there, too. I need to give some thought to my speech as well, which makes me a bit nervous! Always has, to be honest, although I'm okay once I get started. Anyway, there's quite a bit to do before the weekend.
I'll write again between now and the ceremony. It's going to be quite a week!
Bye for now, though.
April 25, 2011
Obviously, it was a disappointing few days for me at Hilton Head last week. The way I've been putting this season I knew I needed to try something, just to get a different look at how I see my putts, and since the Masters I've been experimenting with the belly putter. It's felt pretty good. The main thing stopping me has been a pride thing because a long putter says 'hey, I've got a weakness.' That and the fact it's much heavier than any other club in my bag, which tends to throw off my feel. I use this heavy putter and then I get on to the next tee and my driver feels almost too light in comparison.
That's something as a player you can eventually get accustomed to, though, so I decided to put a new Odyssey White Hot belly putter in my bag for the pro-am at Hilton Head, not knowing at that stage if I was going to use it in the tournament. I knew I could repeat my stroke pretty good with the belly putter, but you don't know how it's going to work until you put it under the gun in tournament conditions. I thought this was the time to give it a go. In Thursday's first round I had 28 putts, then 31 putts on the second day. It'll maybe take a little more getting used to, but all in all, I think for now it's worth persisting with this belly putter.
So it was in my golf bag come Monday morning when I jumped on a plane for the 7,500-mile journey to South Korea for this week's Ballantine's Championship. I'm looking to make it third time lucky here after top-10 finishes the first two years I played this event. And despite my recent results I'm coming here with the objective of trying to win the tournament. It's a prestigious event and we have a strong field, so anyone who does win this week knows they've beaten a lot of good players.
This year's Ballantine's is at a new golf course, the Blackstone Resort just south of Seoul, and I've done my homework in advance. It was a long flight over here, so I did some background research and started reading up on the designer and his philosophy. Typically, I also look at the weather report so I can start to familiarize myself with what to expect. It's all part of helping get your mindset right for a tournament.
I'm looking forward to the week. I've been playing in Asia since the early 1990s, so I've seen some of the players come and go, but I've never seen the game as strong as it is right now. Asia now has its first major winner in Y.E. Yang, who is teeing is up this week, and the game in this region has exploded, so almost everywhere you go it is such a popular sport. It's an exciting time and it feels good to experience that vibe.
Okay, that's it for now. I'll write again next week.
April 18, 2011
The Heritage, this week's tournament, wasn't originally on my schedule, but there are a bunch of reasons why I'm very happy to be playing this week. I had some nice time off at the house after the Masters and really I'm just itching to play some competitive golf again. And, as is the case I think with a lot of TOUR players, Hilton Head has long been one of my favorite spots on the PGA TOUR. Although I'm still looking for my first win here, this is a tournament where I've had a lot of consistency and plenty of low scores over the years. Seven top-10s in 11 starts gives me cause for optimism whenever I tee it up on this lovely golf course. It really is a wonderful place to play golf.
The plan is I'll catch a flight from West Palm Beach to Savannah on Tuesday morning and drive to our rented house in time to check-in and play a practice round after lunch. My week is fairly light in terms of other off-course commitments, which means I have plenty of time to focus on my preparations for the first round on Thursday.
This Pete Dye gem is not a long golf course by the standards of the PGA TOUR these days -- in fact, it's very rare that we play anything less than 7,000 yards -- but it can be tricky especially when the wind is swirling around and you're hitting approach shots into the relatively small and well-protected greens. It's tight off the tee, as well. Basically, it's a very strong layout, one that I'd call a shot-maker's course. If you have control of your golf ball, you can make some birdies. Obviously my game could be in better shape, but let's just see how we go. I'll be giving it 100 percent, as always.
Anyway, just a couple more things before I sign off for the day. In the last few weeks, quite a few people have been asking me about the blue bracelet that I wore during the Shell Houston Open. I decided to wear this after meeting the parents of young Presley Boydstun and them telling me about their daughter's battle with leukemia. They're a great family and hopefully in my own little way I've been able to generate some awareness and help give 'Team Presley' some strength and belief.
I'm also wearing a bracelet on my other wrist, this one is the I-ONICS Power Sport Magnetic Health Band and it's designed to help me stay focused and energized on and off the golf course. I'll put some information on the website very soon about this company's range of excellent products, so you might want to look out for that.
Okay, that's about it for this report. I'm going to go hit some balls now. I'll post my next update at some point between finishing-up at Hilton Head and making the long trip over to South Korea for next week's Ballantine's Championship.
Bye for now.
April 11, 2011
I'll take great pleasure in starting this week's website report with my sincere congratulations to Charl for winning his first major championship. Four birdies in the last four holes to shoot a final-round 66. Wow, he certainly did it in style. Most people are aware of our history. I've known Charl for a good few years now. He's a hard worker and a great kid. When we started the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation, Charl often used to travel with the team and ever since then I've tried to help him any way I can, although it's fair to say his dad can take most of the credit for helping Charl build a great golf swing. Together they've really done an incredible job.
And I'm not surprised at what Charl has achieved as a professional. The guy has some serious talent and, as I said, he's always had a great work ethic and a good, solid temperament. When he finished second to me in the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at TPC Blue Monster last year I said to the media afterward that everyone on the PGA TOUR was going to see a lot more of him in years to come. I guess he's proved me right on that one!
As a proud South African I also take great pleasure in saying that Charl is the seventh South African golfer to win a major championship. What's more, we have two current major champions after Louis' win in the British Open last year. I couldn't be happier for them both. They're great role models for young kids growing up in South Africa and an inspiration that through hard work you can achieve your dreams.
Obviously at this stage I should take a moment to mention my own performance at Augusta, although to be honest there is not much to report. I came into this year's first major championship with my game not quite where I'd have liked it to be. And despite hitting the ball pretty well for much of the tournament, I didn't get much out of my game. That's really been the story of my year so far.
Anyway, moving on to other matters, I heard the news last week that the European Tour and Sunshine Tour have agreed to change the dates for the South African Open so that it no longer clashes with the Presidents Cup in Australia. It has been moved back a week and the Dunhill Championship will now be played opposite the Presidents Cup. I think everyone is pretty relieved with this resolution. The International team will have a strong South African presence at this year's Presidents Cup and it would not have been right to ask players to make a choice between this and their national open. I'm very much looking forward to defending my title.
Okay, that's it for this update. I've got a week off now, but I'll write again soon and keep you posted of all the latest news.
Bye for now.
April 4, 2011
These last four or five weeks I've been really trying hard to get some game to take into the first major championship of the year and, to be honest with you, it hasn't really come together as well as I would have liked. I've played some good stuff in patches, but I haven't had the consistency that you need in order to get right in the mix. My scoring at Houston pretty much summed it up -- 16 birdies, 12 bogeys and a double. It all added up to a disappointing 2-under par aggregate and tied-51st place.
Still, I'm glad I played. The course is set up very much to create the same type of challenge that we face this week at Augusta National so that makes it a very useful warm up. Also, playing a tournament the week before keeps me in a competitive frame of mind, while at the same time helping take my mind away from the Masters. And I'll try to carry a relaxed mind set all the way through into Thursday's first round. I'll play the par-3 tournament, as I did last year when I had Samantha carrying my bag, and just try to enjoy the experience rather than obsessing about winning. I've tried everything over the years and I think now this is the best approach for me.
It's obviously very special arriving at Augusta every year. It really is a completely different feeling to what you experience every other week of the year, even at the other three major championships. There is magic about this place that never seems to fade. To win here, I feel like it would make my career complete.
The golf course has changed a lot since I started coming here almost 20 years ago and really it has became a totally different golf course. We're hitting different clubs into greens, taking different lines off a lot of the tees and basically your whole mental approach is entirely different. Although the rough is nothing like as high as at other majors, Augusta is a very demanding and exacting test of golf. With the greens as severe as they are, you need to hit your approach shots off the fairway to get maximum control, especially now that we're playing with the new-spec grooves, which generate noticeably less spin from the rough. And you often need to play away from pins to give yourself the easiest first putt. If you're going to attack, you have to choose your moments and you'd better execute properly. Nowhere else is there such a fine line between making a birdie or a bogey ... perhaps worse.
Since 2004 when I was runner-up here, which was actually my fifth consecutive top-six finish in the Masters, it's probably fair to say that I've got very little out of this tournament. And as I said before, this year I'd have liked to be coming in here with a bit more game, but it is what it is. I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge, as I always do, and if I can get the putter going things can turn around in this game pretty quickly. You just never know. All I can do is continue to work hard and prepare in the best way I can.
It's going to be a very interesting championship and potentially one of the most open Masters in the last 10 years or so. Phil is obviously the favorite, even before he won at the weekend, but the way the world of golf has gone over the last couple of years there are just so many guys that have come through. It's really wide open.
Anyway, I'll write again next week and give you my side of the story.
Bye for now.
March 28, 2011
I was very excited to come back to Arnold's tournament and defend my title last week, but this really wasn't the performance I was looking for. Bay Hill is always a strong test. It's a long golf course, so you're often hitting a lot of club into very firm greens and with plenty of water about. As you could see, even from the guys at the top of the leaderboard, scoring is tough around here. Small mistakes can cost you shots and, to be honest, I made a few too many over the four days. This golf course kind of gives you what you deserve. I guess 10-over par and tied-70th was what I deserved.
On a brighter note, last week's third Els for Autism Pro-Am was a huge success. As I said before, we had great support from a lot of my fellow TOUR pros, among them Jack Nicklaus, Charl Schwartzel, Justin Leonard, David Frost, Peter Jacobson, Freddie Jacobsen, Marc Turnesa, Mark Calcavecchia, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson, Steve Marino, Thomas Aiken, Jeff Overton, Cliff Kresge, KJ Choi, David Duval, Matthias Gronberg, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby and Luke Donald. A lot of the guys took the trouble to drive down from Tampa and I have to thank them all for taking part.
Actually, the people that we've had playing in this event for the last three years are basically the same group of guys. It is really becoming kind of a close knit group now. They are giving their time for us and for autism, which is obviously a cause very close to our hearts. This year we raised more than $720,000 to add to the $1.5 million the first two years, which goes towards the proposed Els Center of Excellence here in Florida. We couldn't be happier with that. And thanks again to Marvin Shanken -- this tournament is his brainchild -- and all his staff for doing such a great job running this event. It was a great day and everyone had a lot of fun.
Anyway, moving on to this week. At the start of the year when I was organizing my schedule I had considered having a week off before the Masters, but instead I've decided to play the Shell Houston Open. On reflection I think it's a sensible move for me. My swing and my short game feel good on the practice ground, but I'm not bringing it to the golf course, at least not for more than a couple of rounds each week. I'm working on it, so the best thing for me at the moment is competitive golf and just trying to put four rounds together. That's the goal in Houston this week.
This is a great tournament and in many ways the perfect golf course to play the week leading up to the Masters. It's in unbelievably good shape and although there's nothing quite like Augusta National, the way they set up the course in Houston presents a similar kind of test. It's a big golf course with firm, fast greens and not much rough to speak of. It's a proper championship golf course in every way from tee to green and I'm looking forward to it. I need to play better than I did at Bay Hill, though.
So let's see how we go. I'll head over there from Palm Beach on Tuesday lunchtime, which gives me plenty of time to play a practice round that afternoon.
Okay, that's it for now. I'll write again next week.
March 21, 2011
I'm excited about coming back to Bay Hill this week and defending my title in the Arnold Palmer Invitational (presented by MasterCard). It's always great to play in Arnold's tournament and to win it is obviously very special. The guy is such a legend and has done so much for the game of golf. I've won twice -- in 1998 and 2010 -- so there are enough good vibes in the memory bank that I always come in here with a lot of optimism. First, though, I'm back at PGA National this Monday for the third Els for Autism annual Pro-Am.
We've raised more than $1.5 million in this event the first two years and we are hopeful of another successful day today. Again we are fortunate to have a lot of TOUR pros taking part, including Jack Nicklaus, Charl Schwartzel, Justin Leonard, David Frost, Peter Jacobson, Freddie Jacobsen, Marc Turnesa, Mark Calcavecchia, Graeme McDowell, Dustin Johnson, Steve Marino, Thomas Aiken, Jeff Overton, Cliff Kresge, K.J. Choi, David Duval, Mathias Gronberg, Adam Scott, Robert Allenby and Luke Donald. Between us we have seven Open Championships to our name and 25 major wins. That's a pretty impressive line-up and I'm grateful for their support, as I am to our many generous sponsors. It really means a lot to us.
Also, last week Liezl hosted her now traditional Annual Tea Party at our home in Jupiter, which was attended by over 200 ladies and helped raise an incredible $110,000 on the day. Not even the near monsoon-like weather could deter them from their fundraising efforts, which was impressive to see!
Events such as these, and the newly launched Els for Autism Golf Challenge, enable us to raise much-needed funds for the proposed Els Center of Excellence here in Florida, a physical hub for a multi-faceted global digital learning program that will make therapeutic best practices available to children on the autism spectrum. The facility will combine the vital components of education, medical and professional services, treatment, research and transition to adulthood -- all on one campus. It will be the first facility of its kind in the world and will have a global reach.
The Pro-Am today is a shotgun start at 11 a.m. followed by an awards reception. Then on Tuesday I'll switch my attentions to this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational. As defending champion I have some media commitments to take care of, but by lunchtime I'll be free to concentrate on my golf. I'll play a practice round on Tuesday afternoon and then as usual we have the pro-am to play on Wednesday. I know this golf course so well that it's really just a case of getting mentally tuned in for the week.
Those two wins back-to-back in last year's Florida Swing were definitely special, but the way I won at Bay Hill was crucial, really. At Doral the previous week I'd cruised home to victory, which is always nice, but at Bay Hill we had a Monday finish and things were tight coming down the last few holes. I was proud of the putts that I made. It showed me that I still have a lot of fight left in me and when it mattered, when the pressure was on, I got the ball up and down and made some really good putts. I have to try to somehow tap-in to those feelings again.
As I said, there are a lot of good vibes for me whenever I play here. And although I didn't play great in the Tavistock Cup, there were signs the week before at Doral that a few things were starting to come together. Hopefully Bay Hill can generate a bit of a spark and I can raise my game a little bit further still.
I'll write next week and tell you all about it. But in the meantime, do come back and visit the website. We'll have photos from the Els for Autism Pro-Am in the next couple of days, plus other news from on and off the golf course. We already have a story on the website about Ernie Els Wines hosting the TV series finale of 'The Bachelor' last week, which was a great showcase for the vineyard and for the beauty of that part of South Africa.
Okay, that's it for now. Got a busy day ahead!
March 14, 2011
All in all, there were a lot of things to like about my game last week. I hit over 70 percent of greens in regulation and, with the greens as firm as they were at Doral, that just confirms the feeling I had that I was hitting a lot of quality iron shots. I went into the week a little bit more confident with my game having played with Lee Westwood in the member/guest day at Seminole on the Monday before and picked up a few little things that I thought would help me. They did. I need to try and build on that now.
We had a wild start to the tournament at Doral. On day one the course was battered by 52 mph winds and heavy rain. It was seriously bad out there so no surprise we didn't get a full day's play in. I played pretty nicely for the 11 holes that I did play, making three birdies and no bogeys. Coming back Friday morning I put the finishing touches to a three-under par 69, a reasonably solid effort in the circumstances.
A solid effort is probably how I'd describe my golf over the next three days. It wasn't perfect but 7-under par on this course, for a tied-15th place finish, was a marked step up from the form I've shown the past few months. I have to be satisfied with that. There were periods of play where I felt comfortable with my swing and my ball striking and ball flight were more consistent. This game is all about trying to develop positive momentum. I've a ways to go yet, but Doral felt like maybe the start of something.
Okay, this week I've got a break from regular tournament golf, but it's not a week off. We're playing the Tavistock Cup the next two days and, straight after posting this website report, I'll be heading over to Isleworth in time for my lunchtime start. This is the eighth playing of this annual event and we have a new format this year. Two clubs have joined the competition -- my new team, Albany in the Bahamas, and Queenwood in England -- to play alongside Lake Nona and Isleworth.
Over the years I think everyone has really gotten into the spirit of this tournament. There's a healthy rivalry between the teams, as you'd expect, so although we have a bit of fun out there, we're all playing to win. Believe me, it's impossible to knock that competitive instinct out of a bunch of professional golfers! The other great thing is, this event raises a lot of money for local charities. We know how lucky we are and in our own ways we all like to do what we can to help others.
Anyway, the scoring format has had to change also to accommodate the new teams. Today's first round is a betterball strokeplay. In tomorrow's second round we play again in groups of four, one golfer from each team, but the format is straightforward individual strokeplay, just as we play pretty much every week on TOUR. Add up the scores from both rounds and the lowest team aggregate is World Golf & Country Club Champion. Simple as that!
So, this is how the schedule of play for each day is shaping up...
ROUND 1
Arjun Atwal/Tiger Woods (Albany) & Thomas Bjorn & Adam Scott (Queenwood)
Robert Allenby/Stuart Appleby (Isleworth) & Peter Hanson/Henrik Stenson (Lake Nona)
Ian Poulter/Justin Rose (Albany) & Retief Goosen/Graeme McDowell (Lake Nona)
Brian Davis/J.B. Holmes (Isleworth) & Soren Kjeldsen/Paul McGinley (Queenwood)
Lee Janzen/Sean O'Hair (Isleworth) & Ross Fisher/Oliver Wilson (Lake Nona)
Ernie Els/Trevor Immelman (Albany) & Darren Clarke/David Howell (Queenwood)
ROUND 2
Ernie Els (Albany), Robert Allenby (Isleworth), Oliver Wilson (Lake Nona), Thomas Bjorn (Queenwood)
Trevor Immelman (Albany), Lee Janzen (Isleworth), Ross Fisher (Lake Nona), Soren Kjeldsen (Queenwood)
Ian Poulter (Albany), Stuart Appleby (Isleworth), Henrik Stenson (Lake Nona), Adam Scott (Queenwood)
Justin Rose (Albany), Brian Davis (Isleworth), Retief Goosen (Lake Nona), David Howell (Queenwood)
Tiger Woods (Albany), Sean O'Hair (Isleworth), Graeme McDowell (Lake Nona), Darren Clarke (Queenwood)
Arjun Atwal (Albany), J.B. Holmes (Isleworth), Peter Hanson (Lake Nona), Paul McGinley (Queenwood)
Anyway, just one more piece of news before I sign off, The Sunshine Tour has just announced the launch of the Sunshine Big Easy Tour presented by Stonehage, a mini-tour dedicated to providing competitive playing opportunities for up-and-coming professionals. I am honoured that the Tour has put my name to this. It will help South Africa's young talent mature, develop their playing skills and take the next big step towards full Tour status. It's a great format and I'm sure it will prove popular.
Also, I am very excited that Stonehage, a company with which I have had a long association, has decided to sponsor the Big Easy Tour. Stonehage is a loyal partner of the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and this extension of its involvement in South African golf is wonderful to see. The Tour gets underway at Crown Mines Golf Club on March 24, the first of 10 events then followed by a Tour Championship.
I have to leave it there for now. I've got a helicopter to catch!
I'll write again soon.
March 7, 2011
The weather we had at PGA National for the Honda Classic, with gusting winds and some brutal playing conditions, really does expose any weaknesses that you have in your game. Unless you're striking the ball totally pure you're going to have some problems and it's easy for a score to get away from you. That's what happened. I wasn't swinging it my best and at times I didn't control my ball-flight in the wind. That adds up to some high numbers. I just need to regroup now and get ready for this week's World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral, where I'm defending champion.
I'm not going to be disheartened. Last year I arrived at Doral with not much form to speak of, having played quite poorly in the previous week's Honda, and I ended up playing some great golf here, so you never know. Golf is a strange and unpredictable game and sometimes things can turn around very quickly.
On Monday, I'm playing the member/guest day at Seminole Golf Club in Florida, as I do most years with my good friend Johann Rupert. Lee Westwood is playing and, if previous events are anything to go by, the day usually features a bit of a star-studded field. Seminole is a classic test of golf and the day is always good, competitive fun. All in all it's actually quite a nice warm-up for Doral later this week.
I've obviously got fond memories of last year's win at Doral, especially as I played in the final round with Charl Schwartzel, a close friend of mine. Shooting 66 that Sunday was I think, in the circumstances, my best round of the year and Charl pushed me all the way. He came and stayed with me at my house here in Florida for a while before the tournament and we'd joked about how much fun it'd be if we were to go up against one another on the final day. That's exactly what happened.
And I'll be happy for it to happen again, although Charl would be looking for a different outcome! No seriously, I'm hoping the good vibes of coming back here and defending my title will give me the boost that I need. Just 12 months ago this win was my first on the PGA TOUR for a while, after a bit of a lean spell, and I went on to win again the following week. Yes, winning gets harder as you get older, but I still feel like I've got a lot left and it was great to prove that in last year's Florida Swing. As I said, hopefully Doral has the same effect on me this year.
If you want to play Doral for yourself, and I highly recommend it to all golfers, you can tee it up here in one of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge Regional Events in May this year. PGA National is on the schedule, too, as are several other great tour venues located all around the U.S. To get more information or register your entry, visit the website: http://www.e4agolf.com
Bye for now.
Feb. 28, 2011
Having had a stiff neck the week before the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, I really wasn't able to work on my game as much as I would have liked. Still, I had done a lot of solid practice in the month leading up to that and I felt like I had some game coming in here. But obviously tournament golf is a different story and it kind of exposed me a little bit in the first couple of rounds in an unusually chilly Arizona desert.
I got out of jail in my first round match against Jeff Overton. Neither of us played very well and there were a lot of mistakes out there from both of us. I just hung in there, tried to use my experience and came through on the 19th hole. It was what you'd call 'winning ugly' but it was good for me to get through to the second round and play at least another day. I haven't played much competitive golf this season, so every day helps me get back into the swing of things and closer to where I want to be with my game.
It was a different type of game against J.B. Holmes in the second round. For a start, he was blowing it 50 yards past me off the tee on some holes, which is an interesting experience, shall we say! It was a tight match and the nice thing was I played a little better than I did against Jeff and hit some good iron shots on the back nine. I had some opportunities to build a decisive lead, but I couldn't make a putt. I also had a couple of big lip-outs, in particular on the final green to extend the match to extra holes. It stayed above ground, though, and that was that. Another disappointing Accenture Match Play Championship. Maybe one year I'll figure out how to have a decent run at this thing.
Happily, the golf courses of the Florida Swing have been a happier hunting ground for me over the years and this is the month I'd expect to step it up and start producing some higher quality golf. To be honest, I really need to.
We start this week at The Honda Classic, a tournament that I won in 2008. The Champion Course at PGA National is in many respects a classic Florida test of golf and, as I said before, my game tends to go well in these parts. One of the other things I like about this week is the venue is just down the road in Palm Beach Gardens and let me tell you, as a player, any time you can stay at home for a tournament is a nice little bonus. It doesn't happen very often during the course of the year, so I'll enjoy it while I can.
In fact, during the whole of March I'll be staying in Florida, so it's a great month for me in terms of not having to travel far. The Honda is followed by the WGC - Cadillac Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where both weeks I'll be the defending champion. I like to think it'll be a great month in terms of my form, as well.
Okay, that's it for now. I'll write again soon.
Feb. 21, 2011
As I said in my previous update, I was disappointed to miss the Northern Trust Open last week. Riviera Country Club is one of those courses that I always look forward to playing every year, but you can't play golf with a bad neck. It's just not possible, so I spent most of last week resting and getting the right treatment here in Florida. Now I'm ready to go again and very much looking forward to playing some competitive golf.
I'll leave the house this morning and take a flight from Palm Beach International to Tucson and quickly settle into our accommodations for the week at Stone Canyon, where we've stayed every year since they moved this tournament from La Costa to here. Stone Canyon is a great place to come visit. The members, the staff, everyone is just so welcoming and friendly. And last year they kindly gave me an honorary membership. It makes coming back to this tournament every year that extra bit special ... and hopefully will do for many years to come, too.
I have some media interviews on Tuesday morning, but other than that I'm free to focus on my preparations for a first-round match on Wednesday against Jeff Overton. I'm in the Sam Snead bracket, but honestly there's little point looking at the potential matches further down the line because anything can happen this week. You just have to take one match at a time. Obviously you'll hear all the players say that, but it's true.
Over the years I've not had the good runs at this title that I'd have maybe anticipated, especially as I have a fondness for match play golf. But as I've said in interviews many times over the years, you can't compare this with the World Match Play at Wentworth, which I've won seven times. I used to sleep in my own bed that week, the matches were 36 holes and not 18, plus the playing conditions couldn't have been more different. The only similarity is both tournaments involved a golf ball and 14 clubs.
No seriously, on paper I like my chances in this event a little more since they moved it here to Tucson. My problem has been that I've often got out of the blocks a bit slow, which in a regular TOUR event is no disaster because you maybe shoot 70, 71 and then get to work again in the second round. But here, you have a mediocre round and a few hours later you're in a car on the way to the airport.
So if this tournament has taught me anything, it's that you can't predict what might happen. On any given day, any match can go either way. Basically, current form and world ranking positions mean pretty much nothing.
All I'm going to say now is I'll write next week and tell you all about it!
Feb. 15, 2011
As I was saying in my last website report, this week's Northern Trust Open at Riviera was going to be the start of a four-week stretch of tournaments taking in also the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, the Honda Classic and the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral, which I won last year. I was going to leave the house Monday afternoon and then on Tuesday morning play a practice round, but I have a very sore neck at the moment. I thought it might be okay, but doctors have advised me that I need to rest it this week.
Obviously it is disappointing. I always have a good feeling coming back to Riviera. It's one of my favorite golf courses in the U.S. I won this tournament in 1999, when it was the Nissan Open, and although that's a while ago now those good vibes never really leave you. It feels that little bit special playing on a golf course where you've won before, so I was looking forward to it. I just have to concentrate on getting fit for the Accenture Match Play Championship next week.
That's about all I can say right now, but I'll make a fuller statement very soon.
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Feb. 7, 2011
This has been one of the longest breaks I've had in a season for quite a while and, I must admit, I've enjoyed every minute. The kids have loved having me around the house and I've been able to split my time easily between family and golf. Just a few days ago I played golf with David Frost, which I always enjoy. Frosty is a great friend; he's got his own vineyard so whenever we get together nowadays we seem to end up talking about wine as much as we do golf. He's doing well in that area and Ernie Els Wines is going from strength to strength, too.
Last week I also met up with another old friend and fellow TOUR pro, Fulton Allem who plays here on the Champions Tour, and I spoke to some of the other South African players who are heading over to this side of the Atlantic for some big events on the PGA Tour in the next month or so. To be honest, I think a few of them might have their eyes on one of the spare bedrooms at the Els residence. We'll see!
Being at home for a few weeks has also given me the opportunity to catch up on some of my favourite sport on television. Bit disappointed to see my beloved Reds lose at the weekend for the first time this season, but we're still top of the table and I'm confident Sir Alex and the boys will get the job done and Man United will win their fourth title in five years. I also watched last night's Super Bowl, which is huge here in the U.S. This one was a great game and it's always nice to see a tight finish.
This week ... well, it's my final week at home before I get back out on TOUR at the Northern Trust Open at the brilliant Riviera Country Club, so I'm going to hit plenty of practice balls and play some rounds of golf. While much of the US has been pounded by pretty bad weather systems, we've been very fortunate here in Florida. It's been in the high-70s and even the low-80s all week and the forecast is for more of the same to come this week. That makes it a joy to get up in the morning and gives me even more enthusiasm to work on my game.
Anyway, as much as I love my time at home with the family, I always look forward to getting back into the swing of competitive golf. Riviera is the start of a four-week stretch of tournaments for me taking in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, The Honda Classic and the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Doral, which I won last year. Two out of those four weeks are World Golf Championships, so obviously it's a big month in terms of kick-starting my season and getting a good chunk of FedEx Cup points up on the board.
I'll write again next week before I jump on the plane and head west from Florida to California. Before I go, just a quick reminder about the braai at the Els Club Dubai this coming Friday. The event is open to the public and entry is free, so if you're in the area why not pop along? As I said before, as well as some great food, there will be lots of entertainment and music, plus games for all ages and competitions to win fantastic prizes. The winner of the long drive competition alone wins a Callaway tour bag signed by Phil Mickelson, a framed pin flag signed by 22 top TOUR pros that played in the Els for Autism Pro Am last year, and he gets to appear in a feature in Golf Digest magazine in the Middle East. The whole day should be a lot of fun.
Okay, bye for now.
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Jan. 31, 2011
As you probably know I'm right in the middle of a month off at the house with my family in Jupiter, Fla. This gives me a chance to work hard on my fitness and my golf game in perfect weather, with temperatures in the high 70s, low 80s pretty much every day. It really is a great time to be here practicing, because the facilities at the Bear's Club are, as I've said before, incredible -- at least up to TOUR standard -- and right now the greens are running silky smooth and very quick. At the same time, this extended break means that I can properly re-charge the batteries and then push on hard and give it maximum effort through the Florida Swing and into the year's first major championship at Augusta National in April.
This break also gives me a chance to write about some of the other areas of my life away from tournament golf. You may have noticed on the website the World Golf Hall of Fame bricks programme, which is an interesting project where people can purchase a brick engraved with a personal message, which is then placed in a special cluster on the walk of champions at the Hall of Fame museum. I hear that it's been very popular, often as a gift to a sports fan or loved one. Each brick costs $100, which is tax deductible for U.S. citizens, and as I said you get to choose a message that is literally set in stone for all time. Why not check it out, Hall of Fame bricks.
Meanwhile, I want say congratulations to all of the team at Ernie Els Wines, as the prestigious Wine & Spirits magazine recently awarded 93 points to the Ernie Els Signature 2006, which places it in the 'exceptional' category. This is just one of many outstanding reviews and awards that the Ernie Els Wines portfolio has received over the years and I'm proud of the great job that the guys continue to do.
Congratulations also to the whole team at the Els Club Dubai who hosted a special charity golf day last week, which raised more than AED100,000 to help those affected by the floods in Queensland, Australia. The event was a total sell-out, which says a lot about the generosity of spirit of the Els Club members and their willingness to help people. It was only 12 months ago that they held a charity golf tournament to raise money for those affected by the devastating earthquake in Haiti and it's gratifying to know that the Club plays its part in supporting such worthy causes.
On a lighter note, on Feb. 11 the Els Club Dubai is hosting a braai, a true taste of South Africa. I can't be there this time, but if last year's event is anything to go by I know it will be a lot of fun. A percentage of the proceeds from the day are to be donated to the Els for Autism Foundation, which is much appreciated by Liezl and myself. You're more than welcome to attend. The event is open to the public and starts at 3.00 p.m. Entry is free and, as I said, I think you'll have a lot of fun. As well as some great food, there will be lots of entertainment, music and games for all ages.
Okay, I'll leave it there for now, but please keep coming back. We're constantly updating with stories about my golf and the other interests in my life. And by the way, if you haven't already signed up for the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, you can do so here at the E4AGolf website.
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Jan. 24, 2011
Being right in the middle of a four-week gap in my playing schedule it gives me an opportunity to write about some other topics that are on my mind just now. First of all, well done to the South African cricket team for winning the ODI series against India. Hey, I had to mention that one!
Okay, moving on. Last Friday I was able to pay a visit to Albany in the Bahamas for the day. Even though I've made something like 15 visits here in the last three or four years, it is still a treat every time I set foot on this resort. This is a very special place. The golf course, which opened for play at the end of last year, looks fantastic. The crisp-edged bunkering and sculpted greens' complexes are partly inspired by the Australian sand-belt classics such as Royal Melbourne, which is one of my top-three favorite courses. Already the course looks very natural, like it belongs in its environment, and that's really impressive for such a new layout. Overall, I'd say it has a links-like quality to it, with each hole framed by sand dunes, and with the ocean breeze switching direction from summer to winter, the golf course plays very different from one season to the next. I like that.
The short game and practice areas that we've developed at Albany are also very impressive. In fact, just in the last few months I've spoken to quite a few top tour professionals who say that they'll use Albany as a base for their major tournament preparations. Praise doesn't come any higher than that.
Aside from that one-day trip, last week was all about golf. I played some social games with friends here at the Bear's Club and I also spent some time working on my short game and putting. The practice facilities at the Bear's Club are basically up to TOUR standard and you can happily spend hours working on your game. It's one of the many great things about having our family based here now.
Also, just a couple of other items to tell you about before I wrap up this week's report. A little way up the road from here PGA National Resort & Spa, host venue for The Honda Classic where I'll be teeing it up again in March, has just launched a series of 'PGA TOUR' wine evenings celebrating the wines of professional golfers and, I'm happy to say, this coming Wednesday they'll be showcasing Ernie Els Wines. The series runs from now until the end of February, so if you're in this part of the world, go along and taste some great wines. They've got five fantastic golf courses there, as well.
You'll perhaps have already read about the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, which we launched a couple of weeks ago. Please take a look at the E4AGolf website and, if you're in a position to do so, sign up now. It's going to be a great event, a lot of fun for everyone, and all for a very good cause obviously.
Anyway, I'll leave it there for now. I'm staying at the house here in Jupiter again this week and most days I'll stick to a similar routine; go to the gym in the morning, work on my game in the afternoon and obviously spend some quality time with the family.
I'll write again next week with more news.
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Jan. 17, 2011
Usually we get great weather in Hawaii at this time of the year, so having the first day's play totally washed out was not what we were expecting at all. This golf course takes the rain really well, though, so when we showed up to play our first rounds on Friday the playing conditions were basically perfect. What a place! I love it here. My scoring record at Waialae has been very good, so I was looking forward to another strong showing.
I played nicely in my first round, but made nothing so I finished up even par. The good thing was, I played nicely again in the second round and this time putted well, too. I could have gone really deep under par on Saturday. I burnt the edge of the cup quite a few times and felt like I left a few shots out there. Still, any time you shoot 65 you've got to be happy -- and I was. I went straight to the practice putting green after my round to see if I could get those good feelings ingrained in my stroke. We were playing 36 holes on Sunday and I needed to putt well to give myself a chance.
My morning round on Sunday was pretty solid, if a little unspectacular, but I was pretty satisfied with a bogey-free 67 and I knew if I went low in the final round I could get myself into contention. Even though I played steady golf again in the afternoon and hit a bunch of greens -- actually I missed only two greens all day -- it was an awful day on the greens. It was very, very frustrating, but this is how it is at the moment. This is the reality that I have to deal with. It really bangs your head against the wall but -- trust me -- I'm grinding hard on the practice putting green to try to find a way to get some consistency on the greens. Until I do that, I can't expect to win golf tournaments.
Anyway, moving on to other matters. With me finishing at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the previous Sunday night and getting to Waialae for last week's Sony Open nice and early, it gave me the chance to pay a visit to Hoakalei. This is an Ernie Els Design golf course situated just 20 minutes along the coast from Honolulu and it was great to play the course and see how it has progressed since we did the official opening two years ago.
I was very impressed with how nicely the course has matured. The playing surfaces on the tees, greens and fairways are really exceptional, and I hear the members love it. The way we configured the hole routings, combined with the trade winds, means it's the type of course that never plays the same from one day to the next. It's a fun challenge from holes 1 to 18 and the other great thing is players of all standards can enjoy this course. That's something I believe in very strongly.
That same day we also announced the launch of the Els for Autism Golf Challenge, which I touched on in last week's report but want to mention again. This will be the largest charity-driven national amateur golf tournament in U.S. history and will utilize the PGA TOUR's TPC clubs and others to host 32 Super Regional events across the country. Teams of two with a maximum individual handicap of 24 can compete in each Super Regional event. The low net winning team and the highest fundraising team from each of the 32 events will move on to a final two-day extravaganza in Las Vegas in late October where the lucky 64 winning teams will compete for amazing prizes.
All proceeds from the Challenge will go to the Els For Autism Center of Excellence. The schedule of events is available online at E4Agolf.com. Why not check it out and maybe we'll see you soon.
Okay, that's it for this week. The next tournament on my schedule is the Northern Trust Open at Riviera, one of my favorite courses in America, in mid-February. But I'll have lots to report between now and then, so please keep coming back.
Bye for now.
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Jan. 10, 2011
Kapalua in Hawaii is the best place in the world to start your season. It's an incredible location and I love this golf course. It gives you a lot of room off the tee, which I like. And I enjoy the challenge of playing in the wind. It's a fun week and the family enjoys coming here, too. All of that was true again at last week's Hyundai Tournament of Champions. It's just my golf wasn't quite as spectacular as the setting.
I had a pretty frustrating day in Thursday's first round, but I didn't let it get to me. After my round I had a lengthy session on the practice putting green and that helped me remember what I was doing at the South African Open last month. My ball position had gotten too far back in my stance and I was shoving my putts a little bit, so I moved the ball up in my stance and tried to start releasing the putter. It really worked in my second round. I played great, hitting every green in regulation, and I made a lot of putts. It was fun out there, especially playing with Rocco. What a character. He should be a stand-up somewhere! Anyway, shooting a 9-under-par 64 got me right back in the leading pack.
Unfortunately, over the weekend I couldn't recapture the feelings that I'd had with the putter on Friday. I kept playing nice golf. Actually, I think I was right at the top of the stats for greens hit in regulation over the four rounds. But when the scoring is hot like it was all week, you've got to be making your share on the greens and I didn't do that. I think on reflection I was a little too tentative with a lot of my putts.
I tend to be very hard on myself after weekends like that, but obviously this week's Sony Open in Hawaii is another week, another golf tournament and hopefully it will be a different story. I've won the Sony twice before so I've played well and putted well around here. The secret is to try to tap into those positive vibes. Another good thing is my long game felt very comfortable at Kapalua, so that's a solid platform.
I arrived in Honolulu on Sunday night, so I could get in a practice round on Monday. And on Tuesday I'll be along the coast at Hoakalei, one of our new golf course design projects that opened for play at the start of 2009, where we'll be launching the Els for Autism Golf Challenge. This will be the largest charity-driven national amateur golf tournament in U.S. history, supported by my long-time sponsor SAP, so it's really exciting news. There'll be a full story on the homepage of my website within the next 24 hours, but I can tell you about the key information right now.
The Els For Autism Golf Challenge will consist of 32 Super Regional golf tournaments all over America. Teams of two can enter and the low-net winning team and the highest fund-raising team from each of the 32 events will move on to a final two-day extravaganza on Oct. 23-24 in Las Vegas. These lucky 64 winning teams will compete for some amazing prizes, including luxury golf and wine tours to South Africa and Ireland. In addition to the support from SAP and its partners, the PGA of America is also encouraging private and public golf clubs to hold feeder tournaments where the winning team will be awarded a place in a Super Regional event.
It's an amazing program and obviously I'm very proud to be doing this. All proceeds from the Challenge will go to the Els For Autism Center of Excellence, which will offer a global digital learning platform, plus a state-of-the-art education and research facility, to families all over the world with children on the autism spectrum. As I said, check out the website on Tuesday this week and you'll find out more, along with details of how you can get involved.
That's it for this week's report. Oh, and by the way, if ever you're in Hawaii make sure you pay a visit to Hoakalei. It was voted one of the best new golf courses of 2009 by the highly regarded Links magazine in the U.S. and was also voted best new course in the U.S. at the prestigious CNBC International Property Awards. I think you'll love it!
Bye for now.
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Jan. 4, 2011
First of all I want to wish a Happy New Year to all of you out there who regularly log on to my official website. I hope you continue to do so for the rest of this season and that through the pages of my online diary you get to appreciate the inside story of a TOUR pro's life and that through the other sections of my website you can learn more about the various other aspects of my life away from the golf course. There's always a lot going on, but hey, that's the way I like it.
Let's focus on the day job for now, though. I'm starting my 2011 PGA TOUR season with back-to-back tournaments in Hawaii, which is a pretty nice place to kick things off especially as I traveled here from Florida, a relatively short hop compared to the marathon trip from South Africa, which has been the case in previous years. We're on the island of Maui for this week's Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The weather is perfect and we're playing Kapalua's dramatic Plantation Course right by the ocean. Very beautiful, very warm, and yes, very happy to be here!
Despite the brand new title sponsor I'm sure most of you will know this is a limited field event made up of the previous year's winners on the PGA TOUR. Every one of the 30 or so players here will have had a decent amount of time off leading up to Christmas and the new year, so you'd expect a little rustiness. But you never can tell. I mean, I came here in 2003 after a whole month off and shot 31-under par to win the tournament by eight shots. Which only goes to show what a funny game golf can be. You just can't predict it. I haven't had quite as much time off as I usually do and only two weeks ago I shot 25-under par to win the South African Open, so I feel as confident as you realistically can be at this very early stage of the season.
Predicting the year ahead is an equally tricky business. Obviously at the beginning of every season I set myself goals. I want to win another major, but that goes without saying, and generally speaking I prefer broader goals. Really it's a case of trying to give myself the opportunity to play my best golf every time I tee it up. That means paying attention to every aspect of my business -- fitness, practice, equipment and importantly scheduling so that I stay fresh, mentally and physically.
That's the main reason why my schedule looks the way it does, with me focusing almost entirely on the PGA TOUR for the first four or five months of the year. That's what I did last year and obviously with those two wins during the Florida swing it was a successful strategy that I'm keen to repeat again this year. With us having a base in Florida it involves a lot less international traveling than I used to do earlier in my career. Taking all personal and professional factors into consideration, I do think that's the best formula for me now.
Also staying the same this year are my two main sponsors, Callaway and SAP, and my relationship with both companies continues to go from strength to strength. The only significant change is I have a new caddie, fellow South African Mike Kerr. He's a really good guy and has a lot of experience having worked with various top players over the years. I'm looking forward to having Mike on the bag and hopefully it won't be long before we register our first win together.
Okay that's it for now. I'm off to play my first practice round of 2011.
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