A great day on the greens helped Ernie Els to a ‘really, really nice’ start at the RBC Heritage as the legendary South African winds down his regular tour activity, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
READ: ‘Solid’ Frittelli in the mix
In his 20th start at the event Els didn’t miss a putt from inside 10 feet as he worked his way around the Hilton Head layout in just 67 strokes. He gained a massive 2.4 strokes on the field with his putter which was enough to put him inside the top 20 going into Friday where World No 1 Rory McIlroy will start at +1.
The Big Easy is taking it all in his stride these days admitting he is playing most of his golf on previous history.
‘I’ve been playing a lot at home, but under tournament conditions, you know, not quite. I’ve shot some good numbers. The last time I played, I played quite well on the Champions Tour, so I need to keep thinking about that,’ said Els on Thursday.
‘But it was really nice to shoot something under 70. Really, really nice.
‘I think most of my golf nowadays, I go on previous history. I’ve had some good ones in the past, but I also haven’t played very well also. It’s one of those courses where, if your ball striking is on, on a calm, quiet day like today, you’re going to have a lot of chances, and you can see that on the leaderboard.
But the golf course hasn’t changed much. My first time here was in 1994, and I probably missed five or six. So I’ve played a lot of golf here, and I know the course quite well.’
Already a winner on the PGA Tour Champions, Els revealed he won’t play much more on the regular tour.
‘I’m not going to play much on the regular tour. I’ll play most of my golf on the Champions. I really like it out there. I think I’ve done what I could out here on the regular TOUR. I will play every now and again if I get in the field on past champions or something like that.
‘I’ll play some select events, but mostly on the Champions Tour. Yeah, I haven’t won a tournament before I did at the Newport tournament for seven years. So it was really a nice thrill for me to win a tournament again and definitely gave me a bit of momentum.’
Playing care-free is working for Els and giving South African fans that buzzing feeling of seeing the icon in contention just one more time.
