Nicknamed The Big Easy, Ernie Els was born in South Africa in 1969 and grew up in Lambton, Germiston, where he would eventually learn to play golf with his father and older brother at the age of 8 years old. Ernie enjoyed playing many other sports alongside golf including tennis, which he excelled at, winning a championship in his early teens.
It was around the age of 14 however that he decided to put all of his focus into golf after reaching a scratch handicap. Deciding to exclusively focus on golf was a decision that paid off for Ernie, and he would eventually go on to win the Junior World Golf Championship in 1984 after a battle with golfing legend Phil Mickelson who finished second that year.
Ernie didn’t stop there and at 17 years old he went on to break a record previously held by Gary Player, becoming the youngest-ever winner of the South African Amateur.
After setting precedent in his amateur career, Els eventually turned professional in 1989 and went on to become one of the most decorated golfers to have played the game. His first professional win came in 1991 before he won the 1993 Dunlop Open in Japan, his first win professional win outside of his home country.
Just a year later, in 1994, a scintillating battle in his first major championship at the U.S. Open saw Els go toe-to-toe with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts where he would eventually come out on top after a 18-hole playoff. This was just the start of an astounding professional career, and he went on to win tournaments and achievements all over the world, including a total of 4 majors. He would later become a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee.
Ernie launched his golf architectural career in 2000 with the inception of his company Ernie Els Design. With offices in his home country of South Africa, as well as Florida, Malaysia, and Dubai, the company uses the latest technology and continues to provide the golfing world with impressive courses to this day.
Els has designed a plethora of courses around the world including Copperleaf in South Africa which was the first of many Els Clubs. Ernie Els Design was also responsible for the huge restoration and modernisation of Wentworth’s West Course which started in 2005 and eventually finished in 2017.
Ernie Els Design has gone on to create courses in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Malaysia, China, England, Mauritius and more.
