Ernie Els conjured up a shot of breathtaking brilliance on the final hole at the Emirates Golf Club to muscle his way into contention for the Dubai Desert Classic and a possible victory on successive weekends on two continents.
The South African, who won last week’s Genuity Championship on the US PGA Tour, reached the halfway stage only one stroke behind Korean Charlie Wi after playing a four iron which ranked close to the top of Els’s personal list of great shots.
“That shot is way up there. It has to be in my top three” he said with a smile which betrayed his contentment with that one stroke of genius. “Ricci, my caddie, was in a state of disbelief, but it was one of these things which really made my day. I had missed a few putts but that makes up for everything.
“I didn’t get any applause for the shot and I thought it must have gone into the water. I asked Howard Clark, who was working for TV, and he said it was on the green. I guess the spectators thought it was just another shot!”
Earlier, Wi shot a round of 67 to lead the tournament with a nine under par total of 135 while Els recorded a second successive 68 for 136, thanks almost entirely to that 213 yard shot from the undergrowth left of the 18th fairway.
Els took a gamble by identifying a tiny gap in the trees. His ball was lying cleanly in the sandy wastes underneath the trees and he smacked a wonderful shot through the foliage, over the water to 35 feet. After that stunning skill, the eagle putt seemed almost a formality!
Wi kept his very own fan club entertained at the Emirates Golf Club as he swept into the lead. Born in Korea but a resident in the United States for the past 20 years, Wi was followed round by an exuberant group of his fellow country men and women and treated them to a wonderful exhibition of golf.
Playing in Dubai on the strength of finishing second on the Davidoff Tour in 2001, Wi enjoyed the experience of leading for the first time on The European Tour. He said: “It was nice to have my own fan club out there. It all started on Tuesday when I checked in and one of the members of the Emirates, who is Korean, wanted me to have his locker for the week.
“We met on the range and he invited me out for dinner and brought a lot of other Koreans with him. We’ve been having dinner together every night since I got here. I guess they don’t get too many visitors from Korea here so I suppose it’s nice to see someone familiar to them. They have been great in supporting me out on the course, too.”
Wi and Els – surely the shortest two-ball in golfing history – will tee off in the final group on the third day with a slender advantage over the pair in joint third place, John Bickerton of England and Sweden’s Niclas Fasth, who shot 68 and 69 respectively for a seven under par total of 137. Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina lies fifth on his own on 138 after a 67.
Bickerton, who at one point during the morning led the field by two shots before slipping back, had to combat lack of sleep and a niggling wrist injury before shooting his round of 68.
He explained: “I hurt my wrist chipping from the rough on Tuesday and I’ve had non-stop treatment with ice and bandages and rubs. I nearly pulled out on Thursday morning but I carried on and it loosened up as the day went on. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow.
“To make matters worse, my wife, Julie, and son, George, are out here with me. He’s two years old and has a bit of a chest infection. He was a bit sick during the night and at two o’clock in the morning we were wandering around trying to clean up! I was a bit ‘ratty’ on the first tee through lack of sleep.”
Undeterred, Bickerton knocked in seven birdies to establish his position near the head of the field going into the weekend while Ryder Cup Captain, Sam Torrance, did likewise with a bit of assistance from one of Britain’s great Olympians.
Torrance, who bogeyed three of the last five holes to finish on 139, five under par, received a package “out of the blue” from gold medal winning swimmer and fellow Scot, David Wilkie.
The content of the delivery turned out to be a potion to help arthritic joints and Torrance has taken the treatment recently during his convalescence from a cartilage operation to his left knee six weeks ago.
“He sent me tons of the stuff out of the blue. It was really nice of him and it’s helping me. After you have cartilage problems the joints can go arthritic because there is nothing to protect it. David apparently read in the newspapers that I had cartilage problems and sent it to the house.”
Torrance has no great expectations for the weekend, but added: “It was a bit of a shock to see my name up at the top of the leaderboard, as it’s been five months since I played. I am not thinking of Sunday. I’m just glad to be playing on Saturday. However I’ve still got a bit of a game left in me and I’ll just let things unfold. It would be nice to be the oldest winner on The European Tour.”
