GOLF: Jon Swift
THERE was something like an aura of invincibility about the way Ernie Els strode to victory in the Bell’s Cup at Fancourt last weekend.
It is the same invisible — yet recognisable — mantle of power which used to surround Gary Player on the South African circuit.
Player, like Els, got his first major title in his early 20s. The rest — including the almost impossible dream of a career Grand Slam of majors — is history.
Yet such was the presence Player exuded over the rest of the field, you could almost see the professionals lined up against him thinking what the second place cheque would buy when the tournament was over.
Els has a way to go before he matches the incredible record of Player. It is something he admits openly and often. Yet he has this same dominance. It is something to marvel at, as much as his awesome power and deft touch around the greens.
He is, in short, the magnet which can — and does — bring numbers back to the galleries of what has become a TV designer sport in many ways.
The much vaunted Big Three of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Player were the pioneers of bringing professional golf to a far wider audience through the medium of electronic picture transmission.
They were both the drawcards and the pioneers and the debt that future generations of golfers owe them in popularising the sport to millions around the globe will probably never be fully measured.
Golf and TV are now synonymous.
That said, it will be of more than passing interest to see how the galleries — those enthusiasts who prefer the live action to expert opinion and replays — either grow or diminish over the next four tournaments.
One would hazard a guess that the spectators at this week’s FNB Players Championship at Durban Country Club will not be quite as closely packed as they were at Fancourt. The reason for this is that the magnetism Els has on the live gate will be missing from the FNB Tour until the Philips SA Open at Randpark in the second week of February. Add to this that there is only one proven winner of tournaments internationally — Mark McNulty — in the top 10 of the Order of Merit with Els absent.
The seasonal comings and goings of the top players from southern Africa is a perennial problem for the local PGA. For, while it is an extremely healthy sign that Hendrik Buhrman heads the money list through his victory at the Nashua Wild Coast Challenge and his second place at Fancourt and that Chris Williams was a winner in Harare, the drawing power is somehow dissipated with Els out.
In all, Els will miss the Players Championship — played on what is surely the premier course in this country — the ICL at Zwartkop Country Club, the Hollard Insurance Royal Swazi Sun Classic and the Telkom SA Masters at Lost City.
It will probably make the tournaments a shade more competitive though arguably less attractive to the rank- and-file spectator.
This is a phenomenon which happened when Player was active on the local circuit and history has a habit of repeating itself.
For watching a golf tournament in the comfort of home is one thing … getting within putting distance of a superstar is another entirely.