Ernie Els climbed back into the world’s top 10 on the back of his outstanding success at the CA Championship in Miami. Ernie’s four-stroke win over compatriot Charl Schwartzel was not only a triumph for South African golf, but also for the global game as a whole.
Golf needs big names, big performances and big personalities considering the negative publicity and economic problems of recent times... and the name Els is synonymous with everything big. It was not the least bit surprising to those who have witnessed Ernie’s dedication to his craft that he should tower over the world’s best golfers on Doral’s Blue Monster course.
Ernie struggled to make the cut the previous week in his hometown Palm Beach, but what nobody but a few insiders saw was what he did once he left PGA National at the end of every day. He returned to the Bear’s Club and practised until bad light forced him to take sanctuary in his home.
And even on the Saturday night at Doral when he stood atop the leader board with his previous week’s houseguest Charl, Ernie remained on the putting green with only the light from a nearby electronic scoreboard for company.
Practice certainly made for perfect in Doral and you could hear the sighs of relief all the way back to Johannesburg as Ernie showed that over 40 does not necessarily mean over the hill.
If Ernie’s last round, error-free 66 earned him a second World Golf Championship title, then Charl’s performance brought him to America’s attention for the first time. And what a performance it was.
Charl had attempted to pre-qualify for the previous week’s Honda Classic, but came up short. He stayed with Ernie and also dedicated his time to making sure that he was fully prepared for the CA. His was a performance which sent notice that another golfing great is about to emerge from South Africa.
With so many of our golfers in good form and The Masters just three weeks away, ISM has every reason to be confident in the build-up to the season’s first major. Indeed I have every confidence that we will have chalked up another winner before we smell the dogwood and azalea down Magnolia Lane.
