Ernie Els will make his U.S. Senior Open debut Thursday at Omaha Country Club, and while he’s a stranger to Nebraska, the Big Easy is quite familiar with what it takes to play well in a USGA championship. After all, he’s competed in 27 U.S. Opens and won it twice, in 1994 and ’97.
If he is not the outright favorite this week, the 6-foot-3, languid-swinging South African is certainly among the players to watch. And he is looking forward to the challenge as well as a summer schedule that has him focused and determined.
“This might be one of the more fun stretches of golf that I can ever remember, at least in a long time,” Els said two weeks ago while competing in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio. “I am really looking forward to getting my game in shape and taking it around for a great series of tournaments.”
Els, 51, already seems to have his game in shape, though he’d like to have a win to show for it. He played solidly at Firestone’s difficult South Course, finishing fifth, and then last week submitted two strong rounds before stalling on Sunday and ending up second to Cameron Beckman at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.
“This is going to sting a bit,” Els said Sunday after leading through 36 holes before carding an even-par 72 to let Beckman rally past him.
Els said he was going to enjoy “a couple of beers” after the setback, but the real way to take the sting out of losing is to turn right around and win his first senior major. He goes off No. 1 at 2:19 p.m. CDT Thursday with 2010 U.S. Senior Open winner Bernhard Langer and Jerry Kelly, runner-up in the last two U.S. Senior Opens.
“Yeah, it’s a period of time for me where I need to get serious,” Els said.
On Wednesday at Omaha C.C., prior to going out for a nine-hole practice round, Els admitted that in recent years he hasn’t always been as dialed in as needed every time he teed it up. It’s not that he wasn’t trying, but the fire was lacking sometimes.
“For me, it's a blessing to play in tournaments that I'm really committed to mentally,” he said. “A lot of times in the last four or five years on the regular tour, I just didn't have quite the energy to really pick myself up in some of those events, and now I feel that there’s a different energy with me. I feel I can compete.
“I use a lot of the regular events to work on my game, hone my game, and try to get ready for the big ones for us. So that's kind of been my game plan so far. I've played quite well in majors; I haven't won one, but I've been in contention. So just got to keep building on that and see where it takes us.”
In his prime Els was quite prolific. He won two British Open titles, the second in 2012, to go with his U.S. Open victories and collected 19 wins overall on the PGA Tour. He added 47 other victories around the world.
His U.S. Open record in 27 appearances included 13 top-25 finishes. Among his 10 top-10 finishes, seven were in the top five. His last appearance was in 2019 at Pebble Beach, where he received a special exemption. His love for the championship stems from the test presented as well as the venues. “We have gone to some great places, like Congressional and Oakmont,” he said before he was cut off by a questioner who noted that those courses were the sites of his victories. He laughed and nodded his head.
But there is more to it than that.
“It's just a test of the discipline that you need, your strategy,” he said in explaining his affinity for USGA events. "Every single time, they want to see what you're all about. The game of golf is more about misses than really great shots. Through the week is how you manage yourself, how you prepare yourself going into the event, and then mentally just staying in it as hard as you can. It's four hard days.”
From what the World Golf Hall of Famer has seen so far, the U.S. Senior Open is no different.
“Yeah, the bones are there of a USGA event. The rough is up. It's in very good shape, but if you come here with not much game, you're not going to have a great week,” said Els, who has won twice since turning 50, both last year. “I found that in all the other U.S. Opens I've played, you've got to have some game because the test is so that they want to identify the best player in the field, and if you're not quite on your game, you're going to have a pretty tough time scoring eventually. You might get away with it with one or two rounds, but over four rounds, you've got to have some game. This course is exactly the same setup.”
In the following two weeks Els is traveling abroad to compete in the Open Championship at Royal St. George's after that championship was canceled last year due to the pandemic. Then he goes to Sunningdale Golf Club for the British Senior Open. Both championships are in England, the latter just a few miles from where he still keeps a home in Wentworth, though his primary residence is in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Players in their 50s have fared well in the championship, including Greg Norman in 2008 and Tom Watson in 2009 at Turnberry, where he lost in a playoff to Stewart Cink at age 59. Els marvels at the recent play of Phil Mickelson, who just shy of his 51st birthday earlier this year won the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.
“I’d like to think I still have enough game to compete in the Open,” said Els, who missed the cut at Royal St. George’s in 2011 but came back the next year to steal the championship at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Interestingly, he is looking at his two-week sojourn to England as a chance to play in majors and a chance to maybe unwind just a bit, particularly when he gets to his home at Wentworth, where he might fire up the barbecue and relax a bit with his wife and son.
“The summer is a great time in England,” Els noted. “So really looking forward to that. It's going to feel like the golf is quite serious, but it's going to feel like really a family holiday in many ways.”
But, like he said, the golf is serious. It’s a fun time for Ernie Els these next few weeks, but the real fun comes from success, and he is ready for it. “I’ve got three majors in a row, and I’ve worked about as hard as ever,” he said. “I’ve put in the time, and I really want to get something out of it.”
Dave Shedloski is an Ohio-based writer who frequently contributes to USGA websites.
