Big Easy aims for more PGA titles
South African golf legend Ernie Els heads to South Korea for the CJ CUP @NINE BRIDGES which tees off on Thursday.
The Big Easy, as Els is fondly known, wants to enjoy a final fling competing alongside the stars from the PGA TOUR before focusing his attention on the PGA TOUR Champions when he turns 50 next year.
As the new International Team captain for the Presidents Cup next year, the 19-time PGA Tour winner is also keen to follow the progress of some of the new talents who currently feature in the team’s standings.
Els will make his maiden showing at the $9.5 million CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES from October 18 to 21 on Jeju island.
He said: “Honestly, it’s been one of my greatest pleasures, as a player and golf course designer, to have been able to travel extensively around the world and obviously all around Asia. It’s one of the reasons I’m very proud of my role as an ambassador and honorary member of the Asian Tour. It’s a special relationship for me.”
Els missed out on the CJ CUP last year due to having the flu.
on 9 under at the weekend's CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur.
“It’s been a frustrating few years, not getting the results I’d have liked. It’s been pretty depressing at times. But my game’s been in much better shape than the scores suggest. I feel physically fit, healthy, and still have the desire to compete. I don’t want to make any predictions. This will probably be my last full season on the PGA Tour before we switch our attentions to the PGA Tour Champions, so obviously there’s big motivation to play some good golf, but I also want to try to enjoy it,” said Els, who is a World Golf Hall of Fame member.
He is also excited to see the PGA Tour expanding its footprint in the Far East, which also includes the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai from Oct. 25-28.
“The quality of tournaments right across Asia says it all, really. You can see it in the way the world’s major tours want to be involved here. Big sponsors are jumping on board. You’ve got this little stretch now, the Asian Swing if you like, with three great tournaments attracting more and more of the top guys. The fans are loving it obviously. It’s all had a kind of snowball effect, so you can only see it getting bigger and better in years to come,” Els said.
With leading Asian players such as Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand, India’s Shubhankar Sharma, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, Korea’s Byeonghun An and Si Woo Kim featuring in the CIMB Classic and CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, Els will be watching their progress closely in view of his role as International Team captain for the Presidents Cup which takes place in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in December 2019.
“There’s a way to go yet before we make any decisions, but it’s a building process. This is an opportunity for me to talk to people and see for myself some of the new up-and-coming talent. I love that,” said Els.
He was also delighted to see American superstar Tiger Woods, his opposing captain for the Presidents Cup, return into the winner’s circle following his triumph at the Tour Championship recently.
“It’s got to be good for golf to have Tiger back winning again. I mean, you could see how excited the fans were at East Lake. They were crazy scenes.”