Tournament drawcards Ernie Els and Branden Grace have been paired together alongside Italy’s Edoardo Molinari in today’s first round of the South African Open at Glendower, a course so demanding that Els compares it to a US Open set-up.
“The rough here is as tough as I’ve ever seen rough,” he said yesterday. “Kikuyu is obviously a very thick-laid grass, and with all the rain they’ve had here it is as thick as it can get I guess. If you stray just off the fairway, you can really get a very tough lie. I hit one at 18 (in the pro-am on Tuesday) where I was a metre off the fairway, and I could only advance it maybe 100 yards.
“So the guys are going to get those lies. But it’s what Opens are all about isn’t it? In the US Open you get similar conditions, so I think for a tournament of this stature it needs to be tough.
“We want to find the best player this week, and that’s what you’re going to get. You won’t get a guy hitting it offline getting lucky lies in the rough and winning. You’re going to have to play proper golf, and that’s what a national open should be like.
“This course will test your whole game, and your short game will need to be sharp if you miss a green. The bunkers are well positioned, the par-3s and some of the par-4s coming in are difficult, and there isn’t a single bad hole,” added the 45-year-old former world No1, winner of 70 tournaments worldwide including four Majors, and as from this year the SA Open’s host and ambassador.
Quizzed about his own game, Els said: “I played a lot of golf over the holiday, especially at the Links at Fancourt and Oubaai down in George. I actually played with Branden and he took my money (laughs). Ja, he got me. He shot a 31 on the Links’ front nine, so he came out of the blocks quick. I pressed him, but yeah, he still took my money. Hopefully I can get it back this week!” added the Big Easy in reference to Grace who stunned the opposition with a seven-shot victory in the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek in December.
Els revealed that he last played Glendower in 1997 when Vijay Singh won the SA Open here. “But before that, it was the 1980s. I played here a lot as an amateur and a junior because I lived just down the road in Kempton Park. This was the course to play if you could get in. You had to speak to the secretary very nicely. When you got in, you were here all day, as it was such a real treat.
“I lost one down here to Ben Fouche in ‘87 in the the final of the SA Amateur Match play, but I won the Strokeplay! I also won the betterball here with Charl Schwartzel’s father George.”
Els says that he still feels like the ‘Young Ernie’, especially on a course that suits him. “I’m not as long as the younger guys like Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson or Rory McIlroy. But certain courses, like this one, bring the guys back to playing a different game, not just a power game.
“I still have the drive and want to achieve. If I can be greedy I’d go with Augusta for a win. That’d be a Cinderella story. I like Whistling Straits this year for the PGA Championship (those two wins would give Els a Grand Slam).”
Right now, though, it’s the SA Open hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni. Els sees the SA Open as a ‘fifth Major’ for him. He’s won it five times, and he’d love another. - The Star