Ernie Els
Residence: Wentworth, England
DOB: 17/10/1969
With the swing that we all try to emulate, Ernie ‘The Big Easy’ Els is one of the most successful golfers in the history of the game. He has won almost 60 professional tournaments, including 2 US Opens (1994 and 97), an Open Championship (2002), a record 7 World Matchplay titles (including 3 consecutive titles….twice) and is one of a few truly global golfers. Fiercely competitive and far more driven than his casual, easy-going exterior may suggest, Els is blessed with a wonderfully calm temperament - hence his nickname - The Big Easy.
As a youngster, he was an outstanding soccer, cricket, rugby and tennis player. At the age of 13 he won a significant regional tennis event and could well have become a world-class tennis player. Fortunately for golf he didn’t and at the age of 14 Ernie Els was Junior World Golf Champion beating a certain Phil Mickelson to the crown. In 1989 Els won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship and turned professional later that year. In 1992 Els matched the feat of fellow countryman Gary Player by winning the South-African Open, SA PGA and SA Masters, propelling him to stardom.
Splitting his time between the European and PGA Tour’s and enjoying regular victories on each continent, Ernie has firmly set up base inside the world’s top-10; being there for over 700 consecutive weeks (more than any other player). Ernie won the European Tour Order of Merit in 2003, 2004 and only a knee injury sustained on holiday with the family stopped from scooping the title on a third consecutive occasion.
Ernie loves wine and has his own successful vineyard which since its launch has made a big impact on both the South African and International wine markets wining many prestigious awards along the way.
Like the majority of his career, in 2008 Ernie has divided his time between the 2 major tours playing 15 times in Europe and 16 stateside. His only victory in 2008 came in the US at The Honda Classic where a final round 67 (-3) saw him jump from tied 8th at the start of the day to win by a single shot from overnight leader Luke Donald. Despite only spending half the year on the PGA Tour Ernie is still sat in 13th place on the money list, amassing over $2,500,000 in the 16 events he has played in.
Ernie Els Club History
Below is a selection of clubs used by Ernie Els throughout his career
2009
Callaway Tour Authentic X Muscle Prototype Irons
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2006
Scotty Cameron Studio Stainless Newport Putter
£115.00
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Ernie Els Tournament History
2009 World Golf Championship - CA Championship |
12-15 March 2009 - Doral Golf and Spa Resort - Phil Mickelson won his first World Golf Championships title on Sunday at the CA Championship, where he held off Nick Watney to take the title by one stroke and his 36th career victory. However this was perhaps not the most news worthy story of the week. During his opening round, Henrik Stenson thought it a good idea to play from out of the water! After stripping down to his boxer shorts the Swede preceded to do just this. And it was down to PGA Tour photographer Kyle Auclair to capture this magical moment. With the world’s best golf photographers trailing Tiger Woods, Kyle decided he was going to follow other players instead. Little did he know this particular sequence of images would be plastered on newspapers, websites and television shows all over the country the next day. |
In Ernie Els's bag...Ernie managed to secure a top-20 finish this week without really troubling the scorers. All 4 rounds were under par, but only one managed to find its way into the 60's - a 68 in the 3rd round. Ernie opens his round with Callaway's new top-end driver, the FT-9. He follows this with a pair of Callaway X fairway woods. His irons are still in the development stages and the 'Prototype' stamp can be clearly seen in out photos. His wedges however are regular Callaway X-Tour's that are available to you from Golfbidder. Like his irons, Ernie's putter is an Odyssey Prototype.
(CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE FULL SIZE VERSION). |
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2007 World Golf Championship - CA Championship |
22-25 March - WGC - CA Championship - Doral Golf Resort and Spa - Blue Monster Course. Tiger Woods bagged another $1.35m for his two-shot win over Ryder Cup team mate Brett Wetterich at the Blue Monster Course at the Doral Resort in Miami, Florida between 22nd-25th March 2007. No one ever got closer than three shots to Tiger on the final afternoon. The World Golf Championships are played over five continents – and feature the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Rankings along with top finishers on the money lists of six Tours comprising the International Federation of PGA Tours (PGA TOUR, European Tour, Australasian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Asian Tour and Southern Africa Tour). The formats vary - match play, strokeplay and team - but the purses are always big! The WGC CA Championship is the fifth tournament Woods has won at least three times in a row. |
In Ernie Els's bag...A bit of a scoop for golfbidder here as this is one of the first photos showing Ernie using Callaway's latest X-Forged irons after jumping ship from Titleist at the end of 2006. The word 'Prototype' can clearly be seen stamped in some of the cavities. Quite a lot of lead tape being used as well as Ernie begins to fine-tune the set to his liking. He's also using the new FT-5 Tour driver and Callaway X fairway woods and, according to the Callaway webiste, an Odyssey TriHot #3
(CLICK ON IMAGES TO SEE FULL SIZE VERSION). |
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