Search:

Sky Sports.com

Opinion Links: Opinion Home Page | Latest Expert Columns | Latest Blog Entries

Who Els but Ernie?

Posted: 16th October 2007 14:59

Subscribe to RSS Feed Send an email to Mark Roe Email Mark Roe

A popular winner: Ernie Els

Ernie plays golf the way he lives his life, in a relaxed style and anybody that knows the game and loves the games, loves also to watch him swing a club. It is wonderful to see the application of huge power with such an effortless technique.

Mark Roe
Quotes of the week

Also see

The newspapers told us that Ernie Els was in seventh heaven at the weekend after completing a remarkable seventh victory at Wentworth in the World Matchplay.

It was Els' first win since December 2006 back in South Africa and it has been hard to come by for the hugely popular South African.

The one thing that everybody loves about Ernie Els is that he has never changed throughout his career. He will sit and have a beer with you and is a true gentleman. Anyone who spends time around Ernie, loves him.

In his on-course demeanour this year, I have sensed frustration from Els. He has put in a lot of hard work and up until this point, nothing really came to fruition. Now it has and everybody was thoroughly delighted for him.

He has a nice way about him. He plays golf the way he lives his life, in a relaxed style and anybody that knows the game and loves the game, loves also to watch him swing a club. It is wonderful to see the application of huge power with such an effortless technique.

The World Matchplay just shows you how much he loves Wentworth and how much of a master he is at getting round there. The key to everything was, once again, his putting.

They are such difficult greens to read and putt on, which is why you get the likes of Padraig Harrington and Ian Poulter not wanting to play at the BMW earlier in the year.

Clearly Els knows them inside out and really from the back nine of the semi-finals, where he was indifferent tee to green, he suddenly got pace and line to perfection and there was only going to be one winner.

Had he made his putt at 14, his final putt, he would have made 13 birdies on the day on Sunday, and you just can't beat that kind of golf.

It was a richly deserved victory and a reward for a lot heartache that he has been through this year. He has played a lot of very good golf in patches this year, but has not once finished the job.

It is the sort of thing that will bolster his confidence as he goes into 2008.

He talks of this three-year plan to become World No.1. I don't think that is realistic. I think the only way anyone is going to knock Tiger Woods off that perch is to run him down in the car park.

Woods is uncatchable but Ernie Els certainly has the ability to be World No.2. In an era of Tiger domination, that is still something to be immensely proud of.

And Ernie has showed that he is the sort of player who can hang around the top of the leaderboard, and if Tiger makes a mistake in a major, he is the sort of player who can win another major. I know the Masters is probably top of his hit list and he has got the game to win at Augusta.

He has been driving the ball fabulously with that new square driver and the win at Wentworth is just a great tonic for Els.

I must also mention the sensational condition of the course. I know that with only 16 starters it doesn't get the same traffic of other tournaments and courses, but it looked magnificent.

The Indian summer is helping and we had terrific weather. It is a great event and I believe it has a place in the late autumn calendar, at Wentworth, and I hope it remains there for a long time to come.

Send to friend
Print
- Facebook
- del.icio.us
- ma.gnolia
- Yahoo! My Web
- Digg
- Google Bookmarks
- Reddit
- Technorati
- Newsvine
- StumbleUpon
Add comment

Comments

Johnny Lawrence says...

I enjoy listening to Mark Roe and find him a great addition to the Sky Sports team and agree that everyone else in the world is playing for the number 2 spot as long as Tiger remains fit and healthy. On the subject of Ernie Els at the World Matchplay, he feels comfy there, he recently re-designed the West Course, and he has his home halfway up the 16th fairway big advantage. The prize fund does not really matter. When you have won some $30 million on the PGA Tour and some 20 million euros on the European Tour, that is why he looked totally relaxed as if just playing a friendly round with his pals. Els's weakness of late has been his putting. How can one putt badly on greens as perfect as those on the West Course? They looked the purest greens I have seen all year. When Ernie is in full flow he is great to watch, but put him up against the Tiger when he is playing well,you see Tiger with his ability to just take his game to the next level, sadly the rest of the world have not figured out how to get there yet. Once again I agree with Mark that Ernie yearns for a Green Jacket and let's hope he gets one. He deserves it.

Posted 14:14 19th October 2007

Page 1 of 1