European Tour Maybank Challenge leaderboard http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2019/tournamentid=2019028/leaderboard/index.html#/leaderboard
The godfather of South African golf is Bobby Locke or Gary Player, depending what era you choose. Locke played before jet travel was in vogue, Player made up for that travelling by his estimation, some 15 million miles, curled up in his plane seat.
I don't know how many Ernie Els has travelled, it's a lot more than most, and this week he's back on the other side of the world in Kuala Lumpur, and he is continuing the fine form he has re discovered since turning 49 and now ranked #361 in the world.
Going into the weekend at this Maybank Challenge he is at -6 T4, two shots behind Belgian Thomas Pieters 67 69 -8.
Consider the dedication he has to this international game. Before Christmas, he played down under in Australia while he visited Royal Melbourne, site of the Presidents Cup this year.
He flew up to Mauritius to support the Afrasia Bank Mauritius Open, then back home for the SA Open T15, The Alfred Dunhill T26, then off to the Middle East, Dubai Desert Classic T12, Saudi International T89.
In February he was back in a plane to Pebble Beach T28, Riviera T56, then the Honda Classic T20, and Arnold Palmer Invitational M/C and now he's back in Malaysia.
All of that in 4 months, and we haven't even played the Masters yet.
He said in a recent interview that his last 4 years were pretty tough, however inspired by guys like Phil Mickelson, Davis Love and Vijay Singh who are winning late in their careers, he is back and competeing.
His health is good, as is his legendary ball striking, and his putter has become his friend again.
" I feel like I can compete with these guys on the weekend again, and that has kinda' been my goal" and that is great news for his fans who have followed the Big Easy through all these years.
* 47 International wins, 19 PGA Tour wins, 6 others, 4 majors (2 US Open, 2 Open) $49,247,724 career earnings. Hall of Fame in 2011.
Bryan Angus
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