Last week was my first ever visit to Mexico and its Yucatan Peninsula, a really beautiful part of the world.
As I said before, after 25-plus years as a professional golfer it’s a rare pleasure for me to visit somewhere new and I must say I absolutely loved the place and was able to bring the family with me, which is always nice.
Of course, the primary business of the week was playing in the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, the penultimate event on the PGA TOUR’s fall season. I thought the golf course was superb, located right on the ocean, and it was in great shape. Although I missed out on the weekend, there were some good spells of play that demonstrate that my game is there, especially on Thursday when I was 5-under par over a stretch of holes on the front nine. Once again, though, I’m being held back by little mistakes that are costing me a few too many bogeys. That’s the one element of my game that we need to tidy up. As you can imagine, I am working hard on that right now.
Congrats to Pat Perez, though, on a really impressive win there in Mexico, his first on the PGA TOUR since 2009…and 182 starts! Pat has just come back from injury; he’s a great guy and has been a regular supporter of our charities. Also, hats off to Alex Noren who won the Nedbank Golf Challenge, hosted by Gary Player. It looked like it was a good week for everyone involved in that tournament and obviously it’s always nice to see two of our former Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation members, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen, inside the top-10 at a European Tour event. Their performances continue to be a source of inspiration for our current crop of members and actually you can follow their progress on this website or via the Foundation’s dedicated Facebook page.
So moving on, my goal is to see if we can smooth-out my scoring pattern and make something good happen in this week’s RSM Classic. I’m happy to say we’re in another lovely part of the world, at the Sea Island Resort on the southern tip of St. Simon’s Island, Georgia. It’s a place that quite a few of the guys playing here this week choose to call home…and I can definitely see the attraction. Davis Love III, recently inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame, is one such player and he’s also the tournament host this week. It’s a busy week when you’re the host and a competitor, as I know from fulfilling the same role at the SA Open, but it’s a special experience and it also serves as a wonderful opportunity to raise funds and awareness for your chosen charity. The Davis Love Foundation is doing great work supporting programs focusing on children and families.
Anyway, this week we each play one of our first two rounds on the Plantation Course, then the other rounds are played over the Seaside Course, which began its life back in the 1920s as a nine-holer by the legendary Harry Colt, one of my favourite of all the classical-era golf course architects. It later had another nine-hole layout added to it and eventually the two were basically fused together by Tom Fazio in the 1990s to create the existing layout, which as I said looks really wonderful. In the first two rounds I’m playing with Si Woo Kim and my old buddy Vijay Singh; I can’t wait to get started!
Finally, I send my best wishes to all the golfers competing at Highland Gate in this week’s Drive to SA Open final and all the staff at the Club. The event is the culmination of a series of competitions held across the country over the last 8-9 months, with the purpose of raising money for the Els for Autism Centre in South Africa, and I extend my personal thanks to everyone who has supported us. Congrats on making it to the final. I look forward to seeing the winners at Glendower in January!
Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.
