Ernie Els turns 50 in October.
He’s stuck on 19 PGA Tour wins.
He won the Honda Classic back in 2008 and on Thursday, out of nowhere, Els found himself in contention again at PGA National.
In contention despite get trapped on the first hole of the infamous “Bear Trap” — a stretch of three holes, 15 through 17, where bad things can happen, especially at the par threes — 15 and 17 where there’s water lurking right and no where to bail.
That hole got Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas, among others and it got Els early in the day Thursday.
“That freaking 15th hole is no good at all on this golf course,” Els lamented after a really nice 66 that could have been a lot nice without the double-bogey he made at 15.
“It’s a really demanding golf course, especially the par-3s. But yeah, I’ve really been swinging it better lately, and this is a golf course where you get it anywhere under par, you’re really happy, even in benign conditions like this morning. So really pleased,” Els said.
“I started swinging really nice, especially on the back. I got a little unfortunate here and there on some wayward drives. I’ve got to work on that a little bit. But otherwise just keep going. I think it’s going to get a little tougher, a little firmer tomorrow, a bit more wind, but I’ve just got to keep it in front of me.
“I was really annoyed on 15. It was my fifth hole in the morning, and I had such a good start, getting it to 2-under to the par-3, and having an 8-iron in your hand on 15, really benign, to hit it in the water there was a really crucial mistake. But I came back with birdies on No. 18 and 1 and so forth, and kind of got it back together,” Els recounted.
“You’ve got to be satisfied with that. Anything in red around this course, even in benign conditions, you’ve got to be happy. I made that mistake on 15. You know, you miss certain shots here on the wrong sides, it’s a lot like a TPC golf course where you just can’t go X, X, and I did that on 15 and made double there. But after that, tried to play safer, play away from the hole sometimes, which you have to do here sometimes. It seems like the par-3s really play difficult here.”
All of the putting surfaces were re-done last year with Tif-Eagle grass and conditions on those greens were firm and fast.
“It’s more like when I won now,” Els said, thinking back to 2008. “The greens are firmer. They’re still very new. I remember back in ’08 the course was very dry and the ball was running and the greens were very firm, and it’s kind of similar now, so it’s really very important to get the ball in play. I don’t think length is going to be a huge factor this week. You’ve got to try and get it in the fairways and then get your iron shots around the greens and in the hole.”
