There are two ways to look at an abundance of major starts – particularly an abundance of major starts in one season. It can be exhausting or it can be energizing. Ernie Els is choosing the latter outlook.
A 51-year-old Els will tee it up in the U.S. Senior Open this week for the first time in his career. Put the Big Easy in the same age bracket as Phil Mickelson, who is just over a month removed from winning the PGA Championship in a field of young hot-shots. Els, in fact, is only eight months older.
Els hasn’t bowed out of that arena entirely, and the four-time major champion plans to tee it up at the British Open next week. But he’s mixing in some senior majors, and this week’s U.S. Senior Open at Omaha (Nebraska) Country Club can be a kind of tune-up.
“For me, it’s a blessing to play in tournaments that I’m really committed to mentally,” Els said. “A lot of times in the last four or five years on the regular Tour, I just didn’t have quite the energy to really pick myself up in some of those events, and now I feel that there’s a different energy with me. I feel I can compete.
“I use a lot of the regular events to work on my game, hone my game, and try to get ready for kind of the big ones for us. So that’s kind of been my game plan so far. I’ve played quite well in majors, but I haven’t won one, but I’ve been in contention. So just got to keep building on that and see where it takes us.”
Related: What to know about the U.S. Senior Open
Els’ first major start came in 1989 at the British Open, where he missed the cut. But three years later, he finished in the top 5. All told, he’s had 11 top-10 finishes at the British Open in addition to his 2002 and 2012 titles.
In just four senior majors, he has logged three top-5 finishes and a worst finish of T16 at this year’s Senior PGA Championship.
After playing this week’s U.S. Senior Open plus next week’s British Open at Royal St. George’s, Els will make the Senior British Open his third major stop in a row. At the end of last month, he also finished fifth in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, another senior major.
“I feel I’ve done that work, and it will come through now in the next couple of weeks,” he said. “This one’s huge. Next week is huge and we’ve got to travel, and then the British Seniors. It’s kind of a new frontier for me, but I’m up for the challenge to see where it goes.”
In recent years, Els has faded out of sight in the young man’s majors. Since winning the 2012 British Open, he has missed the cut 10 times in 25 major starts. He hasn’t played the Masters for four years or the PGA Championship for three.
In some ways, of course, the U.S. Senior Open will be a different beast. But Els, who won the U.S. Open in 1994 and 1997, sees that the bones are there.
“The rough is up,” he said. “It’s in very good shape, but if you come here with not much game, you’re not going to have a great week.”
Els’ presence at the U.S. Senior Open is just another intriguing age-is-just-a-number storyline in Omaha, and on the PGA Tour Champions in general. Mickelson has dipped his toe in with the 50-and-over lot, teeing it up three times (and winning two of those starts) since turning 50 on June 16, 2020. So far, he hasn’t competed in a senior major.
Bernard Langer, 63, has 41 wins on the Champions circuit, 11 senior majors among them.
They’re like golf’s version of Tom Brady, who is just another source of inspiration for athletes looking to extend their career behind the old idea of an 50-year-old expiration date.
“It depends on how you look after yourself, how you approach the game mentally, but if you’re physically there, you’ve got to just get yourself in a really good mental frame,” Els said. “Bernhard, as you say, is showing it. Also, he’s 63 years of age. He’s third on the money list. He’s struggling a little bit with the knee injury a little bit, but he’s won in every single year for 14 years out here.
“Those three guys have really shown a lot of the guys the way forward, I think.”
Els may end up showing the youngsters a little something himself.
from Golfweek https://ift.tt/3xviFsg