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VOLVO GOLF CHAMPIONSJanuary 18, 2012Ernie ElsGEORGE, SOUTH AFRICA SCOTT CROCKETT: Ernie, thanks for coming in and joining us. Welcome to Volvo Golf Champions, and happy new year to you. Your thoughts on coming here, but for you especially, coming back home obviously. ERNIE ELS: Exactly, we have been living down here for the last 22 years, not living here but coming down here. We have a house down on the beach down there and wish I was there right now, very warm. But it's a wonderful event. I think all of the South Africans love obviously playing in South Africa, especially in a special event like this, an invitation‑only event, gives it a bit more stature. Yeah, for me and Retief and Louis, when we vacation, we come down here, so we really feel like we are playing at home, so really special for us. SCOTT CROCKETT: You played the Pro‑Am today; any thoughts on your game? ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I'm hitting the ball beautifully. Really I'm very happy with my ball‑striking. You know, still working on the flat stick. Hopefully that behaves itself this week, and I think I can have a very good chance. I've played this course all December and we were down here for three or four weeks and played a lot of golf around here.  Have a good feel for the course and yeah, got to get that flat stick going. SCOTT CROCKETT: Everybody talks about local knowledge and how you can use that to your advantage; this week, nobody knows this course better than you. ERNIE ELS: Exactly. The weather we are having now is not quite normal for here. Even by our standards, it's quite warm. Normally we have a breeze, a sea breeze that comes out of the southeast or a little bit out of the west and we have not really had that. When that comes, local knowledge will come into play. Other players have not really seen those kind of conditions. So, we'll see what the weather does. I think, also, that moving some of the tees around, some of the tees we are playing forward, so we are not really seeing the whole brunt of the golf course. Should be an interesting week. Q. Having three events in a row in the region ‑‑ is that something you would applaud, even if it meant less time off? ERNIE ELS: Yeah, The European Tour are really blessed with having so many golf events. They really have to get certain regions and they have to play the tournaments in certain regions. You can't be flying all over the place. I think they have done a good job playing the first couple here in South Africa and from there they go to the Middle East and from there, I'm not sure where they go, but I think it's probably Asia or there's some World Golf Championships in America coming up. So the players can really make a nice schedule. It all makes sense. For us South Africans, it's great when the tour starts here in our summer. We still have a bit of holiday fever down here, so it's nice for us to play golf in South Africa this time of the year. Q. When you look at the field, seven South Africans; in an event like this ten years ago, might have only been you or one other how does that feel for you as the guy who inspired a generation of South African golfers? ERNIE ELS: Great, obviously. Myself and Retief, I won my first major in '95 and my first South African Open in 1992. So that's 20 years ago. Yeah, for 20 years, we have played at a pretty decent level, and we would like to think that we pulled some of the youngsters through; and our foundation with Louis and so forth, is very great. So obviously feel good about it, but it also sets the standard where they have gone out to do the next 20 years of work, so to speak. Hopefully generations do the same over and over and South African golf will forever be strong. It started with Bobby Locke and Denis Hutchinson and Harold Henning, those types of people, Gary Player, and so forth. So every ten or 20 years, new generations take over, so maybe they have‑‑ it's coming. Q. For a long time, caddies‑‑ inaudible ‑‑ is that helping them? Are caddie programmes producing golfers out here? ERNIE ELS: I would think there must be a programme. I'm not familiar with it. But, you know, doing a caddie job is pretty lucrative, too; look at Ricci Roberts (laughing). Simon Masilo has been with me for more than 20 years caddying for me in South Africa. Yeah, I think there must be some kind but I'm not familiar with it, I'm sorry. But we have a foundation and we like to have our students have a good education, and if they do anything inside of the golf community, that's fine with us. I was in the other region in the Western Cape over new year's, and one of the foundation guys is the assistant pro down there. So anything that's got to do with golf from our point of view, you know, we endorse. On a caddie programme, I'm not sure what happens there. Q. You spoke about not being quite ready to hand it over to the new generation; is your hunger and determination to win still undiminished? ERNIE ELS: I've kind of lost my sense of humour, you know, when you don't putt very well, your sense of humour doesn't work very well. So I'd like to get my sense of humour back, but that means I've got to get the putter working and you'll see me smiling a bit more. But my work ethic and my determination, especially this year, is more than ever, because I had such a dismal season last year, so I would like to really turn things around this year and see if I can win some tournaments again. Q. (Inaudible.) ERNIE ELS: Wonderful. Another young player. He hits the ball so far, and he's got a great demeanor. You know, just another really good South African young player coming through. It's amazing, he's played 50 events already. Shows you how long he's been around already. Hopefully this win will really get him going now, because he's got so much talent, like so many other South African golfers. He can be up there with Louis and Charl; he's got the same kind of talent. Q. Pádraig Harrington just said that the South Africans have an advantage because of where the event is on the calendar; do you think that's going to play a huge role in the course of the week? ERNIE ELS: I think so, yeah. I think coming from Europe, the guys in Europe last week and here now, there's a big difference in climate and so forth. I think he's right. I haven't played the other events but a lot of the other guys have, and I think those guys have an advantage of competitive golf. You can practise and hit balls and chip‑and‑putt, but you have to play a competitive round. I think the guys that have done it will have a bit of advantage, and people who know the golf course. Q. You're outside the Top‑50 in the world and you're currently not in the Masters; how do you feel about that? ERNIE ELS: Not good. I've had a lot of people remind me about that. I don't need reminding and I know where I stand and I know what I need to do. I have a couple of months to rectify that. So, another incentive to play good golf. I don't want to miss the Masters. I don't want to be asking for an invite there. You want to qualify for it. I would love to do that. SCOTT CROCKETT: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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