Ernie Els returns to The South African Open Championship hosted by the City of Ekurhuleni at Glendower this week with more than just winning his National Open for a sixth time to concentrate on.
The four-time Major Champion, with five wins in this event already to his name, will act as tournament host and ambassador in his native city.
“It’s wonderful to be back, especially here at Glendower in Ekurhuleni, the city where I’m from,” said the 45 year old.
“I’ve played a lot of golf at Glendower; social rounds, tournament rounds, so there’s a lot of history here for me and it’s wonderful to be back.
“Obviously it’s a great honour. I spoke to the Tour and Selwyn Nathan a few months ago, it was mentioned, and I gave it some thought. The world schedules of golf at the moment are so hectic, but I felt it was important.
“I’ve always taken the South African Open as like a fifth major for me, so to be involved in a capacity where I can host and be an ambassador, thus giving something back to the tournament, is just a phenomenal gift that was given to me.
“I’ll be working behind the scenes with Selwyn, working with sponsors, working with players, and just trying to get the field to a great standard. It would also be nice to move the tournament around the country a bit as well, so there are a lot of things we can talk about still, but the relationship has just started and I can see a lot of positives coming out of it already.
“The tournament is going to give back to charity, and obviously our charities are going to benefit from this, which is wonderful. Our charities are obviously Els for Autism, which is well known now, and also the Ernie Els and Fancourt Foundation. That one has been going since 1999, so we’ve had some good kids come through, and there’s another group of really great youngsters playing in our Foundation. It needs money obviously, and the fact that our charities can benefit from this tournament is great for everybody.
“I’m getting on now. I’ve got this title as host ambassador, so you’ll see me here for a long time at the SA Open, maybe not as a player later on, but doing what I can.
“It’s a different dimension that I’m going into, but as a player right now I feel very motivated to win as many as I can before I’m done, so to speak - especially playing at this course that I know so well and coming back to my roots.
“I still have the drive and want to achieve something. If I can be greedy I would go with Augusta for a win - that would be a Cinderella story.”
Els’ fifth win in this event came at the start of the 2011 season, and the World Number 63 is keen to add a sixth, which would make him the fourth most successful player in the event’s history behind Gary Player, Bobby Locke and Sid Brews.
But the two-time European Number One is wary of a course lined with thick rough.
“I’ve been here many times - I only grew up 12 kilometre’s from here, so this was the course to try and play if you could get in,” he added. “You had to speak to the secretary very nicely. When you got in, you were here all day, you didn’t want to leave, so it was a real treat to play here.
“The 18th they’ve reshaped a little bit, and they’ve changed a little bit of the bunkering, but the shape of the holes and everything is very similar. It’s still very narrow!
“I think 18 under won here last time - you’ll definitely win with that this week!
“There’s definitely a score out there, but if you can put four together, you’re going to play great golf.
“If you stray just off the fairway, you can really get a very tough lie. I hit one at 18 yesterday where I was a metre off the fairway, and I could only advance it maybe 100 yards. So the guys are going to get those lies, but it’s what Opens are all about isn’t it? The Open Championship, depending on weather, you can get really tough conditions, the US Open you get similar conditions, so I think for a tournament of this stature it needs to be tough.
“Kikuyu is obviously a very thick-laid grass, and they let it go when there’s been a lot of rain, so it is as thick as it can get I guess. It’s as tough as I’ve ever seen rough.
“But we want to find the best player this week, and that’s what you’re going to get. You’re not going to get a guy who’s hitting it offline getting lucky lies in the rough and winning. You’re going to have to play proper golf, and that’s what I think a national Open should be like: tough conditions and play from there.”
