Johannesburg - Ernie Els will continue his 25-year-old relationship with one of the world's most testing courses this week when he tees it up in the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
Writing a blog on his website Els said: “For me, I'm now looking forward to this week's Players Championship at its traditional home, TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
In fact, Pete Dye's famous Stadium Course is marking its 35th year as host of the PGA Tour's flagship tournament.
“I've been coming here for 25 years, which I kind of find hard to believe, but there you go. My tournament starts in the company of Matt Every and Webb Simpson, teeing off at 7.48am from the 10th tee on Thursday and at 1.03pm from the 1st tee on Friday.”
Although Sawgrass is one of the shorter layouts that the pros play, Els says that is countered with great variety. No two consecutive holes play in the same direction and there is a good mix of short and long 3s, 4s and 5s.
The 17th, with its island green surrounded by water that claims an average of 45 golf balls every tournament, gets a lot of attention, but it really is a good all-round test of golf.
“It can really bite you in the behind if you're not careful, but if you drive it well and hit your irons in the correct spots, and you pick your moments to be aggressive, you can make a score around here. To be honest, it's not really happened for me since my last top-10 back in 2008. Still, I always look forward to teeing it up here. There is a really strong field and it has that buzz of something a little bit special, which it obviously is.” - African News Agency (ANA)