Ernie Els is one of the game’s living legends: A Hall of Famer, Presidents Cup captain, winner of four major championships and owner of a total victory tally that includes 28 European Tour events and 19 PGA Tour tournaments. His career has been, in a word, remarkable — especially when you consider that he achieved most of it during Tiger Woods’ heydey.
But despite the ample fodder from which he has to choose, there’s one achievement that stands out from the rest in Els’ mind. And on this week’s episode of Subpar, he explained what it is to hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz.
“Just to have the career I’ve had, to be honest. To have a long career, you’ve gotta do a lot of things right, a lot of things have to go your way,” Els said. “Injuries, touch wood, haven’t been too bad for me. Nothing catastrophic. And then just to have the love of the game for this long time. There’s a lot of other things we can do in life. But to keep the love of the game to where I want to still compete and so forth. I’m 52, 53 this year in October.
The main factor that separated Tiger Woods from the field, according to Ernie Els
“So the most proud thing is to hang around and be [relevant],” Els continued. “And the PGA Tour’s looked after us very well, with the Champions Tour now. We’re knocking on Jay’s door to get some more money for this thing. But there’s a lot of other things happening in the world and we’re thankful to play still.”
Els’ long career has given him an appreciative perspective of what the game has given him. His daughter Samantha recently graduated from Stanford — something he isn’t sure would have been possible if it wasn’t for golf.
“I probably would have been working for my dad in South Africa,” Els mused. “He’s got a trucking company. I don’t know if that would have been all that much fun for me. But who knows what I would have done if it wasn’t for this game?
“It’s been a pretty good ride.”
Els spends the majority of his time on the PGA Tour Champions these days, where this season, he’s posted 10 top-25 finishes in 11 events. For more from Els, including what it was like battling Woods, and Woods’ impact on purse sizes, check out the full interview below.