Ernie’s Latest News – 9 December

09 Dec

There was some wonderful golf this past week or so, with Australian Marc Leishman playing superbly to win his first European Tour event and cap off a great year.

On the PGA TOUR Bubba played some great golf to win at Albany in the Bahamas with a total of 25 under par. I enjoyed going to the event a couple of times, though it was a bit strange for myself and Tiger to be watching from the sides. Still it was good to see the guys and chat to them about the course.

Credit goes to Tiger and his Foundation for hosting another successful Hero World Challenge and raising more money for youth charities. Literally tens of thousands of kids around the US have benefitted from the work of the TW Foundation and I believe over $26m has been raised for youth charities since 1999, which is a really wonderful achievement.

We were very proud with how the course looked and played and it was another feather in the cap for Ernie Els Design to have one of our courses host a PGA TOUR event. I really couldn’t think of a better venue and with the facilities on offer I know the players and their families will have had a great time. The team at Albany did a fantastic job of presenting the course and I think scores were lower than any of us thought leading into the week. The weather turned out to be warm on Thursday and Friday and more overcast on the weekend. The main thing missing was the wind, which for the Bahamas is quite unusual. With no wind the players were really able to attack the course and it showed in the low scores, providing some exciting golf.

From a golf course design perspective the site was actually very flat to start with, but we were lucky to be able to use lots of the fill from the marina to produce some exciting landforms and natural flow and separation between the holes. We had in our mind’s-eye a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve and also took inspiration from classic courses such as Royal Melbourne and little references from some of the great links courses of the British Isles, something that you could probably see and would definitely feel on playing the course. Anyway, the end result is something we’re very proud of and last week’s Hero World Challenge was a nice opportunity for us to share its many charms with the wider golfing community.

I have talked about golf course design a great deal over the last few months and it is something I love but am also proud of. With the latest event at Albany we have now had professional events on the PGA TOUR, European Tour, Sunshine Tour, Asian Tour and MENA Tour played on our courses. Obviously that isn’t the aim for every course we design, but it is nice to see the courses being enjoyed by amateurs and the tour pros alike.

So moving on, this coming week I’ll be making the journey down to South Africa for our customary festive break in Herold’s Bay. I am really looking forward to being in South Africa for the holidays. It is something that you always look forward to throughout the year.

While we’re in South Africa I’ll be taking part in the Ernie Els Invitational at Fancourt from 15-18 December, which is always a superb event and also raises important funds for the Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation. We have a great bunch of members at the Foundation and, as the year draws to a close, it’s nice for us to able to shine a spotlight on their achievements both on the golf course and in the classroom. Please click here for the full story.

Just one final thing before we sign off and that’s a big thanks to Sun International, everyone at the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the participants who took part in last week’s Sun City Cares Golf Day, which raised almost R400,000 for Els for Autism in South Africa. Thanks also to Branden Grace for taking the time to collect the check on our behalf. Rest assured, that kind of money will make a big difference to families on the autism spectrum and to helping the Els for Autism Foundation achieve its long-term goals. Liezl and I are very proud of what we have been able to achieve with this Foundation, but we could not have done this and have the success that we have had if it wasn’t for people, corporates and sponsors like those who took part in the Sun City Cares Golf Day. Thank you again!

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