Ernie’s Latest News – 24 August

24 Aug

It was a busy week last week and looking back there were some really big milestones.

The official opening of the first two buildings at The Els Center of Excellence, which took place on Monday, was an emotional day for us and for so many people who’s lives are touched by autism. Getting to this stage took a lot of effort from a lot of people, but the wonderful thing is an even greater number of individuals and families are going to enjoy the benefits.

My wife Liezl is the driving force behind this whole thing – honestly, she’s been amazing – and as she said, “we wanted to build a facility where these kids could realize their potential…and so that we could show the world just what our kids are made of, how strong they are, how talented they are and how far they can really go in life and what a massive contribution they can make to society.” I can’t put it any better than that. As you may have seen, the full story is here on the website.

E4A family at Center opening

Last week we also received news that the PGA TOUR and Southern Company have chosen me as the recipient of this year’s Payne Stewart Award, which was initiated the year after his sad passing and has since been presented annually to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Payne’s values of character, charity and sportsmanship. I have so many fond memories of Payne and always had the greatest respect for him as a golfer and as a person and I think this award is a wonderful way to honor his memory and the values that he stood for.

To be considered worthy of receiving such an award makes me feel proud and very humble. Of course, the work that we do is a massive team effort and I thank my wife Liezl and everyone at the foundations for their work and commitment as well as all the individuals and corporations that support us in helping improve the lives of kids, young adults and families who need and deserve our help. Thank you also to everyone at the PGA TOUR and to Southern Company for the incredibly generous donation that will help us in our ongoing mission to support causes close to our hearts. I look forward to the ceremony which takes place on September 22 in conjunction with the TOUR Championship in Atlanta, televised live on Golf Channel from 7-8 pm ET.

We then went on to the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, NC. This tournament has so much history and I think this year had one of its best fields with many top players trying to play their way into the FedEx Cup playoffs. It is a great event on a great golf course and has a really good team running it.

Wyndham 2015 Review2

It’s asking a lot to jump 40 or 50 places into the top-125 on FedEx Cup points list in the very final week of qualification and unfortunately we didn’t make it, but Davis Love III did…and in some style. Congratulations to him on a wonderful performance, his first PGA TOUR win in seven years and at the age of 51. It shows that if you stay in love with the game, and you keep fit and motivated, you can remain competitive into your 50s, especially when it’s on a style of golf course that suits your game. I’ve always been a great believer in that, but seeing Davis win at the weekend is still pretty inspiring.

Anyway, missing the FedEx Cup playoffs means that I’ve now got some time off before my next tournament. Of course, there is never too much down time in the professional game and I will take this opportunity to really start working on some fitness and swing goals, which you cannot really do during playing weeks. There is still a lot of golf left in the calendar year and I want to have a strong finish.

Finally, congratulations also to Billy Andrade – who’s the same age as Davis Love, as it happens – on winning last week’s Boeing Classic in Seattle, his first individual title on the Champions Tour. I believe from some of my friends on the Champions Tour and the team at Boeing that the course was in great shape. And all in all, it was obviously a great week for 51-year olds!

That’s it for now. Follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.

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