Ernie Els Eases Into Hall Of Fame

10 May 2011

The man with the effortless swing, and who is otherwise referred to as the “Big Easy”, has been inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. The ceremony included a tribute to another hall of famer, Spain’s Seve Ballesteros, who passed away Saturday after being diagnosed with a brain tumour three years ago.
The humble Els, now 41, who has never forgotten his roots and likes a good time down at his place in Herold’s Bay in the Southern Cape, offered the following:

Coming from South Africa, I didn’t even know there was a Hall of Fame. My dream was to win majors and try to do what Gary Player did.

Players must be at least 40 years old to be eligible for the Hall of Fame, and Els became the first active player to be inducted since Fiji’s Vijay Singh was honoured in 2006.
In typical Els fashion, he had practised earlier on Monday at TPC Sawgrass ahead of this week’s Players Championship.

It’ll be a very special feeling to step on the first tee knowing I’ve made the Hall of Fame. I’m still trying to win golf tournaments, still trying to win major championship.
I think it’s a huge bonus for anybody’s career. You don’t get inducted in here without doing something to catch people’s attention, whether it’s winning 18 or 19 majors like Jack Nicklaus or building golf courses like Pete Dye.
There are people here that have done special things in the game of golf. I feel I’ve won my fair share of tournaments around the world, a truly global golfer like my idol, Gary Player.

Els has won three majors including the US Open at Oakmont in 1994, the US Open at Congressional three years later and the British Open in 2002.
Japanese icon Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, the late Jock Hutchison, Doug Ford, former US president George HW Bush and the late Frank Chirkinian, the television golf producer for CBS Sports, were the other five inducted alongside Els.
Bush’s induction, for fear that you were wondering, was through the Lifetime Achievement category and due to his contribution to the game’s profile during his presidency from 1989 to 1993.