Going gets tough for the ‘Big Easy’

One has to feel for South African golfer Ernie Els after his implosion on the opening green of the US Masters at Augusta National on Thursday. The “Big Easy” six-putted from close range after experiencing a case of the yips as he attempted to launch his campaign to add the coveted Green Jacket to his collection of four Majors.

His caddie, Cayce Kerr, looked on helplessly as putt after putt couldn’t find its way into the hole on his way to making a horrible and tournament-ending nine on the first hole, named Tea Olive.

Finishing the round after the disastrous start was an achievement on its own, eventually signing for an eight-over-par 80.

Els, playing in his 22nd Masters, recorded the highest score on the first hole in Masters history – one stroke worse than the eights shot by Olin Browne and Scott Simpson in 1998, Billy Casper in 2001, and India’s Jeev Milkha Singh in 2007.

Missing close putts is a feeling every amateur golfer dreads going through in front of his mates during their weekly club competition. One can only imagine what Els endured on the sport’s greatest stage.

“I can’t explain it. I’m not sure what I did,” Els said. “I don’t know how I stayed out there. But you love the game and you’ve got to have respect for the tournament and so forth. But it’s unexplainable.

“It’s very tough to tell you what goes through your mind. The last thing that you want to do, is do that on a golf course at this level. “So, it’s very difficult.” For a player that has given so much to golf in this country, never mind all the good he has done to help in the fight against autism, it is such a cruel way to fall.

Let’s hope he can learn from the harsh lesson and bounce back.