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Theodore Ernest (Ernie) Els (born October 17,
1969) is a South Africa|South African golfer who
has been one of the top professional players in
the world since the mid-1990s.  He is known as
"The Big Easy" for his fluid, seemingly effortless
golf swing.

==Early life==
Els was born in Johannesburg.  Growing up in South
Africa, he played Rugby Football|rugby, cricket,
tennis, and, starting at age 9, golf. He was a
skilled junior tennis player and won the Eastern
Transvaal Junior Championships at age 13.  But by
age 14 he decided to focus only on golf.

Els first achieved prominence in 1984, when he won
the Junior World Golf Championship in the Boys
13-14 category. (The Boys 9-10 category that year
was won by Tiger Woods.)

==Professional career==

Els turned professional at the end of 1989, and
won his first professional tournament in 1991 on
the Southern Africa Tour (today the Sunshine
Tour).

Among his numerous victories since are three
majors. He won the US Open (golf)|US Open in 1994
and in 1997, and topped it with the The Open
Championship|British Open in 2002.

Other highlights in Ernie's career include topping
the 2003 and 2004 PGA European Tour Order of Merit
(money list) and winning the World Matchplay
Championship a record six times. He has led the
official world golf rankings and is consistently
ranked in the top five.

Els topped the PGA European Tour order of merit in
2003 and 2004, in which year he was voted 37th in
the Top 100 Great South Africans ( see List of
South Africans).

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known
for his willingness to participate in tournaments
all around the world (he regularly plays in
European Tour sanctioned events in Asia,
Australasia and his native South Africa). He says
his travel schedule is in recognition of the
global nature of golf, but it has caused some
friction with the PGA TOUR, who would prefer him
to play more tournaments in the USA. In late 2004
the director of the PGA Tour wrote to him to ask
him to do so in quite firm language, but Els
publicised and rejected this request. The PGA
Tour's attitude caused considerable offence in the
golfing world outside of North America. 

When not playing, Els has a golf course design
business, a charitable foundation which supports
golf among underprivileged youngsters in South
Africa, and a highly-regarded wine|wine-making
business.

==Results in major championships==
{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 1989 !! 1990 !! 1991 !! 1992 !!
1993 !! 1994 !! 1995 !! 1996 !! 1997 !! 1998 !!
1999
|-
|The Masters Tournament|The Masters
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T8
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T12
|align="center"|T17
|align="center"|T16
|align="center"|T27

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T7
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T49
|align="center"|CUT

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T24
|align="center"|T11
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|T10
|align="center"|T29
|align="center"|T24

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|DNP
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|CUT
|align="center"|T25
|align="center"|T3
|align="center"|T61
|align="center"|T53
|align="center"|T21
|align="center"|CUT
|}

{| cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="1"
style="font-size: 95%; border: #aaa solid 1px;
border-collapse: collapse;"
|- bgcolor="#eeeeee"
! Tournament !! 2000 !! 2001 !! 2002 !! 2003 !!
2004 !! 2005
|-
|The Masters Tournament|The Masters
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T6
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|47

|-
|U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|T66
|align="center"|T24
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T9
|align="center"|T15

|-
|The Open Championship|British Open
|align="center"|T2
|align="center"|T3
|align="center"|1
|align="center"|T18
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|T34

|-
|PGA Championship
|align="center"|T34
|align="center"|T13
|align="center"|T34
|align="center"|T5
|align="center"|T4
|align="center"|DNP
|}

DNP = did not play

CUT = missed the half way cut

"T" indicates a tie for a place.

==PGA TOUR career summary==


Year
Majors
Other wins
PGA TOUR
wins
Earnings (United States dollar|$)
Rank
1994
1
0
1
684,440
19
1995
0
1
1
842,590
14
1996
0
1
1
904,944
14
1997
1
1
2
1,243,008
9
1998
0
1
1
763,783
36
1999
0
1
1
1,710,756
15
2000
0
1
1
3,469,405
3
2001
0
0
0
2,336,456
15
2002
1
1
2
3,291,895
5
2003
0
2
2
3,371,257
9
2004
0
3
3
5,787,225
2


These figures are from the PGA Tour's official
site. As Els divides his time roughly equally
between the PGA Tour and the PGA European Tour,
his ranking on the PGA Tour money list understates
his standing within the global game. From the mid
1990s to early 2005, he has rarely been out of the
top three in the Official World Golf Rankings.

==PGA Tour wins== 
*1994  U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open
*1995  EDS Byron Nelson Championship|GTE Byron
Nelson Golf Classic
*1996  Westchester Classic|Buick Classic
*1997  U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open, Westchester
Classic|Buick Classic
*1998  Bay Hill Invitational
*1999  Nissan Open
*2000  The INTERNATIONAL|The International

*2002  Ford Championship at Doral|Genuity
Championship, The Open Championship
*2003  Mercedes Championships, Sony Open in Hawaii
*2004  Sony Open in Hawaii, Memorial Tournament,
WGC-American Express Championship

Els's major championship victories are shown in
bold.

== PGA European Tour wins ==
There is a summary of Els's European Tour career
http://www.europeantour.com/players/bio.sps?iPlaye
rNo=5576&sOption=history here.

Wins

*1994 Dubai Desert Classic
*1995 Lexington South African PGA
*1997 Johnnie Walker Classic
*1998 South African Open
*1999 Alfred Dunhill South African PGA
*2000 Standard Life Loch Lomond
*2002 Heineken Classic, Dubai Desert Classic, The
Open Championship|131st Open Championship
*2003 Heineken Classic, Johnnie Walker Classic,
Barclays Scottish Open, Omega European Masters,
HSBC World Matchplay Championship
*2004 Heineken Classic, HSBC World Matchplay
Championship
*2005 Dubai Desert Classic, Qatar Masters, BMW
Asian Open

Els's British Open counts as a win on both the PGA
Tour and the European Tour. His two U.S. Open's do
not count as European Tour wins because the three
U.S. based majors did not become part of the
European Tour's official schedule until 1998.

==Other wins==
*1989 South African Amateur Stroke Play
Championship
*1991 Amatola Sun Classic
*1992 Protea Assurance South African Open,
Lexington South African PGA Championship, South
African Masters, Hollard Royal Swazi Sun Classic,
First National Bank Players Championship, Goodyear
Classic
*1993 Dunlop Phoenix (Japan Golf Tour)
*1994 Toyota World Match Play Championship
*1995 Toyota World Match Play Championship, Bells
Cup
*1996 Toyota World Match Play Championship,
Philips South African Open
*1997 PGA Grand Slam of Golf
*1999 Nedbank Million Dollar Challenge
*2000 Nedbank Golf Challenge
*2001 Vodacom Players Championship
*2002 Nedbank Golf Challenge, Cisco World Match
Play Championship

Most of the wins up to 1992 were Sunshine Tour
events. Most of those from 1994 onwards are in
unofficial events.

== Teams ==
Alfred Dunhill Cup

1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 (winners), 1998
(winners), 1999, 2000

WGC-World Cup|World Cup

1992, 1993, 1996 (Individual and team winners),
1997, 2001 (winners)

Presidents Cup

1996, 1998 (Winners), 2000, 2003 (Draw)

== Ernie Els Design Golf Courses ==
Mission Hills Golf Club, The Savannah Course -
Shenzhen, China

Whiskey Creek - Ijamsville, Maryland, USA


==See also==
*Golfers with most major championship wins
*Golfers with most European Tour wins

==External links ==
*http://www.ernieels.com/ Official Ernie Els Site
*http://www.pgatour.com/players/bio/132002 Profile
on official PGA Tour site
*http://www.golfstarsonline.com/E/Ernie_Els/ Ernie
Els at Golf Stars Online Links to relevant sites,
interviews, feature articles and similar.
*http://golf.about.com/od/golfersmen/p/ernie_els.h
tm Ernie Els at About.com

Golf world number ones (men)