Buoyed by a top-six finish at the PGA Tour’s season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, Ernie Els is in high spirits for this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, where he has twice claimed the title.
The smooth-swinging South African has always enjoyed playing on the tight, palm tree-lined fairways at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, placing no worse than fifth in five appearances.
”It’s great to be back,” Els told reporters on Wednesday as he prepared for his first Sony Open start since 2005, when he was runner-up behind Fijian Vijay Singh.
”The great thing here is the kids have a great time and we stay right on the golf course, so it feels really relaxed.
”It’s a golf course where you’ve got to be patient,” added the world number 10. ”You can’t go out there and hit the ball as hard as you can and go for everything. You’ve got to play proper golf.
”Before I came here, I used to watch it [the tournament] on television a little bit, so I had a little bit of an idea [how] to play it. I really like the greens here, they are really fast.”
Confident
Els, popularly known as the Big Easy, came fifth on his Waialae debut in 2000 and finished third in 2001 before winning the title in 2003 and 2004.
”I’ve always enjoyed playing this tournament so, yeah, I obviously like my chances,” the three-time Major champion said. ”I feel as confident going into this week as I was going into the Mercedes.”
Although Els struggled with his short game in the third round at the Kapalua Resort last week, he was overall delighted with his form in the first event of the PGA Tour season.
”My game is right there and it was only the first week of the year, so I’ll stay patient,” the 39-year-old said of his tie for sixth place.
”I had a really tough putting round on that Saturday but I had some help from my boys and I played a couple of holes yesterday and feel good about it. I just want to keep rolling.” — Reuters