Ernie Els has turned his back on the the tedium of the=20 US golf circus for a real life in Europe
GOLF: Jon Swift
THERE are two ways to attack the tedium and insularity=20 of the US professional golf tour. The first is to do=20 what Nick Price has done for years: switch on to the=20 golfing life for a couple of weeks and then switch off=20 and relax for a like period.
The other is to do what Ernie Els is contemplating and=20 abandon the plastic big money life in the States for the=20 less financially rewarding but infinitely more comradely=20 European Tour.
In the case of Price, his ability to handle the=20 barrenness of the US Tour off the golf course is=20 testimony to his strength of character, his unbending=20 belief in his own ability and the ability he has always=20 had to take the game extremely seriously while doing the=20 exact reverse in terms of himself.
Price was also helped by the 10- year exemption he=20 earned by winning the World Series of Golf at Akron, a=20 victory which gave him a solid foothold in America.
It would be foolish to suggest that Els has no belief in=20 his own ability. Or that he lacks strength of character.=20 But he is a different man from Nick Price in many ways.
To understand the almost monastic environment that is=20 the US Tour it is interesting perhaps at this point to=20 remember what it was that drove Dale Hayes away from=20 America. Hayes had arrived a confirmed and regular=20 winner on both the South African and European tours,=20 ready, willing and able to make his mark. He never did.
“It’s a different life,” was the way Hayes put it after=20 making the decision to quit the US Tour. “The guys=20 arrive at the hotel and go straight to their rooms. They=20 come out to practise and to eat. Then they go back to=20 their rooms.
“They come out again, eat, go to the course, play their=20 round, come back to the hotel, eat and then go back to=20 their rooms. There’s never anyone to talk to.”
To this add the dimension of the superstardom which both=20 Price and Els enjoy — something Hayes didn’t have to=20 handle — and life can become untenable for the=20 professional. There is, quite simply, nowhere to go=20 without being mobbed, but your hotel room.
Els admits as much. “I want to be an international=20 player,” is the way he puts it. “But I must admit I have=20 missed the European golf scene. I have a lot of friends=20 there and there is a great camaraderie.” This is not the=20 case in dog-eat-dog America.
It is something the Spaniards, insulated to a degree by=20 an in-built language barrier, never really conformed to.=20 And the fact that the Iberian contingent had the=20 temerity to actually drink wine with their meals rocked=20 the single-minded sons of the Stars and Stripes to their=20 very core.
Overseas players are anathema to the Americans who tend=20 to become xenophobic about their tour and the steady=20 drip of dollars into foreign pockets.
It is nothing new. They instituted a ban on Bobby Locke=20 in the years immediately after the last global nastiness=20 for the simple reason that they couldn’t stop him=20
Gary Player, far and away this country’s most successful=20 golfer in the States, felt the barbs of being different=20 throughout his career. But then you would need a dozen=20 Exocet missiles to even begin to dent the Player=20
And TV — a medium Player and the other members of the=20 Big Three, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, did so much=20 to make golf part of –has changed the face of the tour=20 immeasurably from the way it was when Player started=20
Els is not the kind of person to take the strictured=20 life in America. He is too outgoing and too used to=20 relaxing with his fellow players after the day’s=20 exertions. This simply doesn’t happen on the US Tour.
Every other player with a tour card is seen as=20 potentially taking food out of your mouth. Els will=20 undoubtedly continue to play on the US Tour. As a former=20 US Open champion and two-time winner this season, he has=20 more than earned the right to use the non-member rule=20 and play a maximum of 12 events a year if he gives up=20 his playing card in the US.
And he will surely continue to win in America. His=20 talent dictates this. But for the majority of the year,=20 Els will surely be a lot happier using the bonhomie of=20 the European Tour as a playing base. There, he will be=20 able to swop jokes with his fellow competitors, enjoy a=20 beer or two with others in the field after his round=20 and, who knows, maybe even start speaking Spanish and=20 taking wine with his meals.