CAPE TOWN – Ernie Els, who played in last week’s Alfred Dunhill Championships in Scotland, has had to pull out of a PGA Tour event in Kuala Lumpur this week.
Writing on his website ernieels.com, the South African said: “This week we were due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur and tee it up in the CIMB Classic.
“I was really looking forward to that, but unfortunately I need to attend to some urgent family matters back home in Florida.
“That means I’ll be back in action at the following week’s CJ Cup @ Nine Bridge on Jeju Island in Korea, the first PGA Tour event in that country and one that I’m excited to be playing in.
“That will start the ball rolling on my 2017/18 PGA Tour season.”
Talking about the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Els said he thought patron Johann Rupert and the rest of the team did another wonderful job.
“Obviously I’d have loved also to be in the mix come Sunday, but I made a slow start at the Old Course on Thursday and then kind of got stuck in neutral from thereon.
“I did shoot 2-under on Friday at Carnoustie, the toughest of these three great links courses, but as I said, the momentum wasn’t really there for me. Suffering with a heavy cold all week didn’t help things, to be honest.
“Still, hats off to everyone at Alfred Dunhill and thanks again to the fans for the amazing support that we get every year in this event. Congrats to Tyrrell Hatton on a successful defence and to Jamie Donaldson and Keiran McManus, who won the team prize.
“Also deserving of a mention is the charitable ethos that runs deep in this tournament.
“Ever since its inception in its current format in 2001, the Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation has distributed the funds raised at this event to support dozens of good causes. That has to be applauded… and long may it continue.”