final say
for els, this isn’t how it should be
this is not the way it
should be when a member
of the world golf hall of
fame with 18 pga tour victories and three majors is
in a playoff with a guy who
is trying for his first win on
tour. but as they headed for
extra holes at the Zurich
classic yesterday, ernie els
looked as if on a golf course
in a competitive situation
was the last place he wanted to be, even if the guy he
was going up against—
Jason dufner was 0-for-163
on the pga tour with more
botched sundays in recent
years than the indianapolis
colts had last fall.
the first time since 1993.
els, who would have gotten
back into augusta national
in 2013 with a win at new
orleans, has not won in
his last 43 pga tour starts
since winning the 2010
arnold palmer invitational.
that from a man who won
once for every 16 tour
events he played through
that week at bay hill. els
should have played the last
hour sunday at tpc louisiana with the attitude “i’m
ernie els and you’re not.”
but he didn’t.
about his son ben’s autism,
many thought it would be a
catalyst to great golf, that
he’d have a weight off his
shoulders and a mission to
motivate him.
now the question is this:
will this flurry of good golf
for els—this was his third
top- 10 this year—motivate
him or will the inability to
close the deal add to his
frustration? this much is
clear: ernie will continue
his effort to raise funds
and awareness for the
fight against autism. and,
if along the way he picks
up another win, or even
a green jacket, that will
be icing on the cake. he
seems to have his priorities
straight.
ron sirak
executive editor
Tim Rosaforte is on vacation.
His column will return in the May 7
issue of Golf World Monday.
maybe what this shows is
how difficult it is to win a
professional golf tourna-
ment. figuring out the sun-
day thing is not easy, just
ask rickie fowler or charlie
wi or steve marino. cer-
tainly, dufner could tell you
all about it, and over the
last few years so can els,
who failed to qualify for
the masters this year for
the main motivation ernie
has in golf right now is to
add a masters to his two
u.s. opens and one british
open titles. but the real
mission for els is to raise
$30 million through the
els for autism foundation
to build a center in south
florida to support fami-
lies with autistic children.
it is a goal he has nearly
reached, being about $5
million short. when er-
nie went public in 2008
els made the revelation
a week after winning the
honda classic. “ben is
quite affected by it,” ernie
said at the time. “but he’s a
lovely boy.” he said he and
his wife liezl had known
about ben’s diagnosis for
“quite a few years” and
finally decided that going
public might helps others.
in 2010, els won consecu-
tive starts at the wgc-ca
championship and the
arnold palmer, but that
has been it. mostly, the
problem has been put-
ting, which surfaced again
on the first playoff hole
at new orleans when els
missed a six-footer for the
win. but it also looked as if
els was not comfortable in
the situation. certainly, he
does have more important
things on his mind than
ap photo/gerald herbert
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