First of all I want to congratulate BMW, the European Tour and everyone at Wentworth Club on another beautifully run PGA Championship and a successful week.
I know all of the players appreciate how much BMW has done to support professional golf. Their tournaments are all organized in such a wonderful fashion and they really have become among the premium events around the world, not only from a player’s point of view, but for the fans as well. It’s no wonder they flock through the gates in such huge numbers here at Wentworth – a record 113,640 this year. And they were rewarded with a fantastic week of golf. There was a great field. We had five holes-in-one, an albatross, a hatful of birdies and eagles, even good weather. Everything about this tournament is world class.
Actually, that would be an equally accurate description of Byeong-Hun An’s performance. While it’s fair to say that the West Course was receptive to some low scoring – thanks to the great work by the Wentworth greenkeeping staff in often less-than-perfect growing conditions – this is still a tough test of golf, so 21-under par is an incredible aggregate. The maturity and talent that he showed, particularly on the final day, marks him out for me as a potential star of the future.
Unfortunately, my on-course performance was slightly hampered by the back trouble that caused me to withdraw from the previous week’s Wells Fargo Championship. It required treatment before and after every round at Wentworth, which was disappointing and a little bit frustrating. However, the medical team from the European Tour were fantastic with the support they gave throughout the week.
It promises to be another great week of golf this week as we fly over to Royal County Down for the Irish Open, sponsored by Dubai Duty Free and supported by the Rory Foundation. I spoke with Rory in Dubai at the start of the year and I’m happy for him that he’s involved in hosting such a prestigious event. It is a similar role that I have taken with the South African Open and, of course, it is a genuine honour to host your national open. You have more commitments, but you embrace the whole vibe and it’s a great experience. It’s wonderful also to be able to give something back to the game and, in Rory’s case, raise a lot of money for kids who really need it. In exactly the same respect, we were honoured that the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation and Els for Autism were chosen as the South African Open’s beneficiary charities.
Anyway, the last time I played Royal County Down was with my dad way back in 1998 and it went straight into my top-five courses in the world. It’s still in there! Everyone knows my love for links golf. To me it’s the purest test of golf and I love how you can use your imagination, work the golf ball and play all different types of shots. It is great to see more links courses being used as tournament venues outside of the Majors.
The fans are obviously just as excited, because I hear this week’s tournament is likely to be a complete sell-out before a golf ball is even struck. Hopefully the weather will behave and we can all enjoy a great championship on a wonderful course. I’m hoping also that my back is in better shape than it was at Wentworth, so I can play some good golf and try to get right in the mix. I’m really looking forward to it.
Finally, we bring you news of an exciting initiative for all you wine lovers out there, the Ernie Els Wine Club. It will offer its members significant discounts and delivery to your door on all of the wines in the Ernie Els Wines portfolio, plus other special offers and invitations to exclusive events, wine tastings and dinners. Please click here if you’d like to find out more.
Also, thank you to all the golfers who played at the beautiful Royal Montreal Golf Club this week, the latest event on this year’s Els for Autism Golf Challenge. Again, please click here for the full event schedule and for information on how you can take part.
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