Els sees highs and lows of Troon
Ernie Els had an ace, a double-bogey and some questions left to be answered in the first round of the British Open.
Updated: July 15, 2004, 10:11 AM ET
By Bob Harig | Special to ESPN.com
TROON, Scotland -- The numbers add up to par, but of course, the numbers don't tell the story. How he got there is the interesting part. And should the 133rd British Open come down to the wire for Ernie Els, he'll no doubt look back on his good fortune and misfortune at two of Royal Troon's more remarkable holes.
Els shot a 2-under 69 in the first round, a fine opening effort.
The good: Els aced the "postage stamp" 8th hole; the bad: guys with hole-in-ones almost never win.
He recorded a one and a five.
And since the double bogey came later in the day, it left a sour taste for the player many believe to be the favorite to win this week.
"I don't feel good after that, I can tell you that," Els said about the double-bogey 5 at the par-3 17th that dropped him from a tie for the lead back into the pack. "I had a pretty nice round going. I had quite a few chances, also. It's very unfortunate what I did on 17."
What happened to Els occurs all the time in links golf. Els left a bunker shot in the bunker. By design, pot bunkers are supposed to do that. But for a world-class golfer such as Els, it was a brutal mistake. He had room to clear the ledge of the greenside bunker to the left of the 17th, where a pulled 5-iron shot to the 222-yard hole initially got him in trouble.
And this was in no way as difficult as either of the beautiful bunker shots he hit down the stretch two years ago at Muirfield, where he won his first Open Championship and third major title. Els needed clutch bunker shots in regulation and in the playoff -- one requiring him to straddle the sand with one foot in the bunker, and one out -- to win the Claret Jug.
This, comparatively speaking, was nothing. And he botched it.
"I don't know what I was thinking there," Els said. "It was laying a little bit down, but it wasn't the most difficult shot I've ever had in my life and I just messed it up. I thinned it into the bank in front of me and I tried to get it out, which I did, and made 5. From really nowhere, I made double bogey. So that's quite disappointing. From such a highlight on 8 to such a lowlight on 17. It's amazing."
No doubt.
The ace at the Postage Stamp would have been far more memorable had it not been negated by the double at the 17th. The 123-yard eighth is no pushover, but on a near perfect morning with little wind, Els needed only a pitching wedge. He thought about hitting a 9-iron, but his caddie, Ricci Roberts, talked him into the wedge.
"I hit it really solid," Els said. "I was just saying to the ball, get up, get up, get up. And it bounced nice and hard and it had a lot of (spin) on it. And it went in from the back of the hole."
Els wasn't quite sure, but he believed it was his seventh hole-in-one in competition, his second at a major championship. Els also had an ace at the 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot. But players don't often win tournaments in which they make an ace. The last player to do so on the PGA Tour was Jim Furyk at the 2002 Memorial.
Good omen or bad, Els has more to worry about. He'll play Friday afternoon when conditions could be tougher than the tame ones he faced Thursday morning. That was his biggest lament, that he didn't take advantage.
"The back nine played as easy as you're going to see it," he said.
Which makes you wonder about how the unnamed bettor who wagered a huge sum on Els feels about things.
Ladbrokes, a United Kingdom betting house, reported taking a single wager from one individual for 62,500 pounds (about $120,000) on Els to win the tournament. Betting is legal in Britain, but Ladbrokes said it had never had a bet so large on golf.
"I wouldn't wager that much money," Els said. "He must have a lot of money to wager. I'm feeling good about this week, and I'm glad I've got fans or a betting man who's got a lot of confidence in me. I feel it's all good."
Els finished second to Phil Mickelson at the Masters, losing to a final-hole birdie. He had another chance at the U.S. Open, just two strokes out of the lead entering the final round, where he shot 80, then blasted the United States Golf Association this week for the unfair setup at Shinnecock Hills.
Now he's in position again, although as Els undoubtedly lamented, it should have been lower.
"I have to take that," he said. "I can't change it. So I have to just keep playing. And it's not a bad start. Anything under 70 in a major championship is a pretty good score. But it could have been a little better."
Bob Harig covers golf for the St. Petersburg Times, and is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at harig@sptimes.com.
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