GOLF: Jon Swift
IT IS well worth contemplating that the victory Ernie Els=20 racked up in the Byron Nelson Classic over the testing TPC=20 layout at Four Seasons in Irving is as important a=20 benchmark in the budding career of the lanky South African=20 as was his win in the US Open.=20
For, in scooping the glutton’s share of the $1,3-million on=20 offer, Els has shown that he is not just another in a long=20 stream of one-time winners.
For all the money and esteem which goes with victory in a=20 major championship, it is consistency on the year-long=20 grind of the US PGA Tour which is the true measure of a=20 professional golfer in the eyes of his peers.
There can be little doubt that Els has both the game and=20 the temperament to follow through and become one of the=20 greats of the modern game.
But it was the way Els wrapped up his record 17-under-par=20 win which marked him as someone really special for the=20
There can be no greater compliment paid than an accolade=20 from Byron Nelson — his 11 consecutive tour victories=20 still stands as a benchmark for all to follow — the man=20 who has lent his name to the tournament played over one of=20 the toughest layouts in the United States.
“You’re a great young player,” was his summation of the 263=20 Els carded for the $234 000 winner’s paycheque.
Indeed he is. But golfing history has a habit of not=20 transferring the “great young” mantle to the shoulders of a=20 player 10 years on when he does not consistently produce=20 the goods. This clearly is not destined to happen to Els.
In the muggy heat of Texas Els made the first of what will=20 surely be a string of indelible marks on the tour in the=20 manner South Africans have become accustomed to. He=20 shrugged off the stutters of a three-putt bogey on the 11th=20 and the pressure of a five metre putt for par on the next=20 and came home with a fanfare and a flourish.
He birdied four of the finishing six holes — the 18th with=20 another five metre pressure putt — to elegantly shrug off=20 the pressures that being the US Open champion inevitably=20 foist on the holder each time he swings a club and to leave=20 as a fading memory the front nine.
It was the Ernie we have become accustomed to, carving his=20 way back into a winning position, the customary grin edged=20 with a touch of grimness as he gets about the job at hand.
South African galleries have seen many of these explosive=20 charges in the all-too-brief Els sojourn on the local tour.=20 It is a sight that stays in the memory. And one the=20 Americans better get used to.