Ernie Els
Ernie Els
Theodore Ernest "Ernie" Elsis a South African professional golfer. A former World No. 1, he is known as "The Big Easy" due to his imposing physical stature) along with his fluid golf swing. Among his 71 career victories are four major championships: the U.S. Open in 1994 at Oakmont and in 1997 at Congressional, and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield and in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St Annes. He is one of six golfers to twice win...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionAthlete
confidence couple major next tournament work
I still have a couple of things I have to work on in my game. All in all, my confidence is where is should be, especially going into an important tournament like this and a major next week. I just have to keep working.
adam bit confidence given huge last played win wish
It would be a huge confidence booster to win here. I wish I'd played like this last week. I would have given (Beijing winner) Adam Scott a bit of a go.
ball came cannot complain confidence game given happy hitting knee practice sitting time
I cannot complain about the way I came back. I could be sitting here without any confidence now, hitting the ball all over the place. But the knee has been pretty good, and it's given me time to practice and get my game back in shape. So I'm happy where I am right now.
ball builder club confidence delighted hitting swinging
It's a real confidence builder after such a long layoff. I was swinging the club well and hitting the ball great, and I was delighted to be back in contention.
anxious played
I was a little anxious out there, but I played OK.
becoming fun hardest majors toughest
It is becoming one of the toughest majors now. Where it used to be kind of the most fun of all the majors, it's becoming the hardest now.
event miss saw
I saw Ernie as well and this event will miss him, that's for sure.
break couple days field four guys last might narrow within
Over four days of competition, it's going to narrow the field dramatically. You might see more tournaments like we had last year, where a couple of guys break away and it's kind of two tournaments within a tournament.
backed bigger elvis gets golf guys legend media
I think he's a legend in the making. You (media) guys have helped, but he's backed it up with his golf game. He's 24. He's probably going to be bigger than Elvis when he gets into his 40s.
dread hard hit par playing shot
I think most amateurs dread playing a 180-plus-yard par 3 even more than a hard par 4. Part of it is psychological: You think you should be getting a breather, distance-wise, and instead, you get hit with a long iron or hybrid shot over trouble.
good guess knew missed shut three watch
I wouldn't say I missed it, I did not miss it for a good three months. I guess subconsciously I knew I was out. I was going to be out for a long time. I think I just wanted to shut myself off. Not watch it or read about it or anything like that and concentrate on other things in my life.
conditions dry masters might played
We haven't really played many Masters with dry conditions yet. We might find out this week.
fast last played six
We haven't really played Augusta the last five, six years in very firm, fast conditions.
avoid puts spin tee tricky trying
Spin is a tricky thing. When you're trying to avoid it - say, on a tee shot, where sidespin puts you in the trees - it's easy to make it happen.