Ken Borland

Tournament ambassador Ernie Els is desperate for a local winner of the South African Open at Glendower Golf Club this year, but for next year’s event he has big plans to bring out Rory McIlroy and other top international golfers for the second oldest national open in the game, which starts on Thursday.

After three successive foreign winners of the South African Open – Andy Sullivan and Morten Orum Madsen at Glendower and Henrik Stenson at Serengeti, Els said on Tuesday that it was time for a team effort by the South Africans to ensure the prestigious trophy returns home.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on winning our national open, but for the last few years the foreigners have come and taken the trophy. I know it’s not a team competition, but I can guarantee you that the South African guys are going to pull together to try and take the trophy back because the foreigners are starting to take over. Branden Grace has not won it yet and I know he’s desperate to do it and I think George Coetzee is taking it very seriously this year as well. The local guys really want to win it,” Els said.

But from next year, Els himself will make it even harder for the home golfers as he plans to bring world number three and four-time major winner McIlroy over for the tournament.

“I’ve got Rory to commit to playing in the tournament, although I gave him some time to do it, a couple of years. For those top guys in the world, their schedule is so condensed, but I’m sure next year we’ll get him down here, maybe we’ll put him up in Cape Town for New Year’s.

“Rory has been such a great friend and supporter of our charities, as have other great players too. They’re all great lovers of South Africa, guys like Chubby Chandler and Lee Westwood are in Cape Town right now. I’m beginning to find my feet as the tournament ambassador and I want to make the field stronger. The top couple of golfers in the world have horribly busy schedules but I’m getting commitments from them,” Els said.

As for Ernie’s own game, the five-time winner of the SA Open had, by his own admission, an awful 2015, but he has spent many hours playing while also getting himself refreshed over the festive season.

“It was tough last year, as bad as it’s ever been, I missed some really short putts and I had tennis elbow. But I took time off, I feel refreshed and I feel up for it. I’d love to be in the top-50 again by the end of the year and I played a lot in December in Oubaai,” Els said.

If Ernie Els were to hand over the South African Open trophy he has won five times to Charl Schwartzel in the prizegiving ceremony at Glendower Golf Club late on Sunday afternoon it would be entirely fitting and not unexpected given that the country’s highest-ranked golfer will be taking a five-shot lead into the final round.

But there is a chance that the closing ceremony won’t feature Els metaphorically handing over the baton as South Africa’s pre-eminent golfer, but rather the rise to stardom of Matthew Fitzpatrick, the former world number one amateur playing in his rookie season on the European Tour.

Schwartzel fired a brilliant six-under-par 66 on Saturday to go into the final round on 13-under-par, leaving overnight leader Andy Sullivan in his wake as the Englishman struggled to a 74 and is eight shots behind the world number 31.

But other Englishmen rose up to replace Sullivan as strong challengers for the title, most notably Fitzpatrick, who stole some of Schwartzel’s thunder with an astonishing back nine of just 30 strokes for a 67 and eight-under-par overall.

While most 20-year-olds would be going into the final group of the world’s second oldest national open with wide eyes and huge trepidation, Fitzpatrick seems to have a very level head on his shoulders. But the rising star who has already made two cuts in the Majors is also realistic about his chances.

“I can’t say I’ve been in this position before and I’m just going to try and do what I’ve been doing: hit as many fairways as possible, make greens in regulation and steer away from any trouble near the flag. Just give myself a chance for birdie, even if it’s 20-25 feet away.

“There’s always a bit of pressure associated with being the number one amateur and there was a lot of hype after the majors, which I would love to be able to live up to,” Fitzpatrick said.

For his part, Schwartzel is certainly not feeling uncatchable with a five-shot lead.

“Five shots sounds like a lot, but I still have to play well, although I’d much rather be where I am than where the guys chasing me are. I was driving the ball very well today on the front nine and I’d like to play the same way tomorrow, to stay aggressive. This course can catch you even if you’re trying to protect your score, so I won’t change my game plan. I want to stick with driver because if I have a good day with it then it will be difficult to catch me,” Schwartzel said.

Schwartzel took control of the tournament with a blazing start, picking up birdies on the first four holes, proving what a difference a new year can make. The 2011 Masters champion ended 2014 wanting to disown his swing, but he looks much more like the old Charl Schwartzel at Glendower.

It was a torrid 2014 on the course for the 30-year-old, partly because he and his wife Rosalind started a family, but Schwartzel looks ready to transfer the joy in his private life into his workspace.

“I have swung better in the past, but I’ll definitely take the swing I’ve got now because a couple of months ago I didn’t have anything. 2014 was my worst golf year for a long time, but my best year personally, our daughter coming along was fantastic. But it takes a real adjustment and then I started playing badly and it just snowballed,” Schwartzel said.

Fitzpatrick and friends will have to hope Schwartzel falters in the final round, but he showed little sign of that on Thursday, not allowing bogeys on the par-four seventh and a three-putt bogey on the par-five 13^th to halt his momentum. He added to his wonderful start with further birdies on eight, nine, 12 and 14.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start with the field pretty bunched up. I wanted to try and separate myself and I’m very pleased with the way it went. It was a whole mixed bag – some spectacular shots, some really bad shots, some great putts and some bad putts. But I was chipping very well and after the start I had, I was able to just grind out a good score,” Schwartzel said.

Scotsman David Drysdale joined Fitzpatrick on eight-under with a 68, while Englishman Lee Slattery produced the round of the day with a 65 that sent him soaring into fourth place on seven-under-par.

Ernie Els started superbly with a front nine of 31 to roar back into contention on five-under-par, but then faded on the back nine as his putting woes returned and he finished the third round with a 69, 10 strokes behind Schwartzel.

 http://citizen.co.za/304884/schwartzels-lead-not-uncatchable/

It’s probably not hard to get inspired in the South African Open when Ernie Els is the competition and he shoots 67, and fellow South African Jbe’ Kruger managed to go one better in the first round at Glendower Golf Club on Thursday.

Kruger and Englishman Andy Sullivan are the first-round leaders of the second oldest national open in golf on six-under-par 66, with Els in a tie for third one shot back with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and 2008 champion Richard Sterne.

Spaniard Jordi Garcia Pinto and South African Erik van Rooyen also challenged for the lead before falling away in the closing holes, Pinto with three successive bogeys for a 68 and Van Rooyen with dropped shots on 17 and 18 for a 69.

It was an excellent day all-round for Kruger, who produced the only bogey-free round and enjoyed the treat of seeing his name just above his childhood hero’s on the SA Open leaderboard.

“It was a perfect start to the year after two weeks off, you couldn’t ask for a better way to get the confidence back. I hit my irons very well today, I only hit a couple of fairways but the greens are still very good. If you hit it straight, then there are a lot of birdies out there,” Kruger said.

“But it’s great for South African golf that Ernie is in contention, it’s just because it’s Ernie Els and you have to respect him. But I’m one ahead of him and that’s very nice too,” the diminutive 28-year-old said with an impish smile.

The excellence of his iron-play meant Kruger was able to get out of the rough when he strayed off the tee, but for the rest of the field, the cloying Kikuyu was a nightmare.

“If you miss from the tee, it is so tough to put the second on the green. So if you miss one shot, you’re going to get bogey or worse,” Pinto said.

The well-travelled Sterne was even more outspoken.

“If you don’t hit the fairway then this course is as brutal as I’ve seen, I’ve seen a few things in my career but this is the worst rough. It’s a great golf course and it really doesn’t need much tricking up.

“I think they’ve overdone it a bit with the rough. On the fourth, I was only about eight metres off the fairway and I could only hit a lob-wedge 10 yards. You just can’t advance the ball, which I haven’t seen anywhere else. I get that it’s a national Open, but in the British and U.S. Opens, you get thick rough but you can still advance the ball 120 metres.

“This kikuyu is so knitted together, if we didn’t have spotters you wouldn’t find your ball in it. It’s crazy. If they want to make the course tougher, they should just firm up the greens,” Sterne said.

Els, however, held the opposite view, but then the five-time SA Open champion has miraculous powers when it comes to golf courses.

“The organisers are getting soft, they had complaints and they cut the rough down this morning. You now can get decent lies in the rough and I hope they leave it to grow now again,” Els said after an inspired round that even he said reminded him of the good old days.

“I’m thrilled with my round. I had a really nice back nine, I hit probably every green and had a lot of looks at birdie. Physically I feel very good, it felt like the old days out there today and it’s nice to be back,” Els said.

The return of Els, now the official ambassador for the SA Open, created plenty of excitement and a large crowd followed him all morning at Glendower, which is close to where he grew up in Kempton Park.

Kruger is also an East Rand boy and, with Charl Schwartzel handily placed on four-under-par, Sterne strongly in contention and Thomas Aiken, George Coetzee and Branden Grace also all under par, a thrilling event looks in store as the 2015 golf year gets underway.

 http://citizen.co.za/304124/sa-open-1st-day/

Ernie Els breezed to a five-under-par 67 in the morning and then made a clarion call for the organisers of the South African Open to make the rough even tougher on the first day at Glendower Golf Club yesterday, and his point was perhaps proved when Jbe’ Kruger and Andy Sullivan overtook him in the afternoon with 66s.

Just about everyone else was complaining about the thick, tangled grass off the fairways however, and Kruger produced the only bogey-free round of the day, his precise iron play being the key, particularly on a back nine that he studded with four birdies.

“I hit my irons very well today, considering that I only hit a couple of fairways. But the greens are very good and if you hit it straight, then there are a lot of birdies out there,” Kruger said.

Els alternated between driver and three-wood off the tee and it came off as he produced an impressive round that featured just one bogey, on the par-four 12^th.

“I was much better off the tee than I’ve been recently and I managed to hit quite a few fairways. I hit a few three-woods and when I used driver it came off as well. On quite a few holes, if you miss the fairway you’re finished, but I was more aggressive today, I was swinging freely and not steering the ball.

“But the organisers are getting soft, they had complaints and they cut the rough down this morning. You now can get decent lies in the rough and I hope they leave it to grow now again,” Els said.

Sullivan really put the wind up Kruger and Els as he charged to six-under with five birdies in seven holes from the eighth, capped by an eagle at the par-five 15^th. But the Englishman could only come home with three pars to ensure he and Kruger share first place, with Els a daunting figure just below them.

Driver was Sullivan’s instrument of choice and it set him up for six birdies overall. Even his double-bogey on the par-four fifth came from the middle of the fairway.

“I played really good golf, I took on the course, used driver as much as you can and it paid off. Generally I do drive the ball well, it’s a strength of mine, and I was swinging well and made the most of it,” Sullivan said.

Former champion Richard Sterne was tied for third with Els and Denmark’s Lasse Jensen on five-under, while Charl Schwartzel shot an encouraging four-under-par 68.

Thomas Aiken shot an up-and-down 70, as did George Coetzee, while Branden Grace was four-under-par through 12 holes before a single visit to the reeds at the par-three sixth derailed his round and he finished with a 71.

Spanish rookie Jordi Garcia Pinto and South African Erik van Rooyen will both be kicking themselves as they faltered on the closing holes to take the gloss off very good rounds.

Pinto bogeyed the last three holes but still managed to post a 68, while Van Rooyen dropped shots on 17 and 18 to slip back to three-under-par.

The affable Kruger, who finished second in the SA Open last year at Glendower was clearly delighted with his round, but was quick to express his happiness at Els’s successful return to the national Open.

“It was the perfect start after two weeks off, you couldn’t ask for a better way to get your confidence back. The rough was hectic and if you miss the fairway, you have to get lucky like I did on 18.

“It’s great for South African golf that Ernie is in contention, it’s because it’s Ernie Els and you simply have to respect him. But I’m one ahead of him, which is very nice!” Kruger said with an impish smile.