2009 WAS THE FIRST season in nearly 20 years that Ernie Els didn’t win a pro golf tournament. Ernie’s first win was on the Sunshine Tour at the Amatola Sun Classic. His most recent PGA Tour victory was at the 2008 Honda Classic. Ernie’s 60 worldwide wins include 16 PGA Tour titles and three majors.
“It hasn’t been a great season for me on the golf course—my first calendar year without a win since 1990—but the emails and messages of encouragement and good wishes that I receive via this website is gratifying and genuinely means a lot to me,” Ernie wrote today in his weekly diary.
“There are many of you out there who continue to have a lot of faith in me and I hope I can repay that with a few wins in 2010.”
I often check Ernie’s site because he is one of the few tour pros who writes regular entries. And not just a token paragraph or two. Ernie writes and writes, week after week. Often times, I’ve found him to be surprisingly candid and introspective.
Today, among other things, Ernie wrote about his desire to win again.
“That’s obviously going to be my main goal when my new season kicks off again in mid-January. I had some great chances in 2009, especially in the Open at Turnberry and the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, but I didn’t get the job done. I don’t want a repeat of those experiences in 2010. I need to keep putting myself in positions to win and next time, do a better job of grabbing them with both hands.”
I like Ernie, and I’ve always felt as if he had another major in him. Maybe next year. Or maybe a regular win or two somewhere along the tournament trail for the globetrotting golfer.
−The Armchair Golfer
(Image: Mike Davis/Flickr)