Ernie Els’ name remained on the first page of the leaderboard on Friday but his two countrymen Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel will not be troubling the scorers this weekend, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
Els is currently tied T8 with Oosthuizen (76, 74) and Schwartzel (73, 75) certain to miss the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. The more fancied duo will head home to work on their game with the Dell Technologies Matchplay in Austin, Texas up next before The Masters on 5 April.
The Big Easy will not be at Augusta unless he wins this week or the Houston Open but regardless, he is playing well on the back of his nod to replace Nick Price as the captain of the Internationals side for 2019’s Presidents Cup and the news that the USGA have given him special exemption into the 2018 US Open, an event he has won twice before.
Els started on the 10 and made two pars before getting to -1 for his round with a birdie on the 12th when he sank a 33 footer on the par 5. His solitary drop of the day came at the 15th when an errant tee shot left him out of position in the penal rough. Els then drove into the fairway bunker on 16, rebounded nicely to give himself a chance at another birdie 4 but missed his six footer to remain level for the round.
The 48-year-old was unable to give himself any real chances for birdie (he was putting from 49ft, 51ft, 79ft) on the next few holes, instead he scrambled well to keep further big numbers off of his card.
Els made two birdies in a row on the 4th and 5th and came home level to finish on -5 through 36 holes joining 2017 SA Open runner-uo Rory McIlroy (70) in the bunch trailing Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau who are out in front at -11.
The final Saffa in the field, Tyrone Van Aswegen, is well-placed to make the cut at -1 through 13 holes.
Photo: File
