BOCA RATON, Fla. — Ernie Els doesn’t have much time to relax these days, being pulled in different directions in a life that is about so much more than playing golf.
Which is why Thursday, the day before the start of the TimberTech Championship at Broken Sound, Els left the schedule wide open. No commitments on the golf course, no charity events, no ribbon cuttings or grand openings at the Els Center of Excellence, no checking in on his design team.
“He just chilled,” said Liezl Els, Ernie’s wife.
So, on Friday when he arrived at the Old Course for the first round of the tournament, Els was refreshed. He then battled the 18-22 mph winds to shoot a 1-under 71, five shots behind leaders Shane Bertsch, K.J. Choi, Padraig Harrington and David Toms.
“The golf course plays actually well with the wind,” Els said. “I just didn’t play very well. The scoring holes, I screwed them up.”
The golf course is Ernie Els’ sanctuary. It’s where he’s most comfortable just doing what he does best and what he’s done his whole life, without any phone calls or checking bottom lines or working with consultants.
It’s where Els, 54, has made more than 1,000 starts in his career and has won about 75 times all over the world on tours in South Africa, Asia, Japan, Europe and Australia, along with the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions.
“I’m a busy guy, but I love competing and I love playing,” he said. “I’m not practicing as much as I used to but I’m playing with the guys.”
The guys, meaning anyone of the who’s who of golf professionals in the Jupiter, Florida, area whom Els could run into at the Turtle Creek and Loxahatchee golf clubs.
But not this week. This was a week Els, a four-time major winner and former world No. 1, was just looking to take a breath before getting back to his day job.
It started Sunday evening when Els attended the dinner for the Integra Connect Golf Classic benefiting Conquer Cancer. Then Monday morning, he participated in a clinic along with Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and Luke Donald at PGA National for the Integra Classic. He went from the range to the par-3 fifth hole on the Champion Course to hit 32 tee shots, one with every group in the classic. If you’re wondering, none found the hole.
“I ran out of steam,” he said.
That same evening, he and Liezl hosted a welcome party at The Breakers in Palm Beach for the Els for Autism’s final event of the season, thanking the biggest donors who helped them raise more than $3 million.
Ernie was just getting started. Tuesday was the final Els for Autism golf outing at Bear Lakes in West Palm Beach. Ernie drove around in a cart to make sure he greeted every participant. You can’t have a tournament without dinner. That was Tuesday night at The Breakers, Ernie’s third straight night on the banquet circuit.
After staying at The Breakers Tuesday night to cut down on his drive to Boca, Els arrived at the Old Course Wednesday for a 9:20 a.m. ET pro-am. A news conference followed the round.
Thursday, he “just chilled.” Oh, yeah, and hit a few balls to prepare for this weekend.
“Maybe next year I’ll slow things down a little bit,” he said. “I say that every year.”
Not mentioned is his dipping into designing golf courses with Ernie Els Design, which has opened 17 courses worldwide and has another seven under development.
Still, the Hall of Famer played well enough this year to qualify for the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs with 13 top-10 finishes in 21 events on the Champions tour. His lone win was the Hoag Classic in March in Newport Beach, California.
Els was ranked fifth entering TimberTech, which is the second of three Schwab playoff events.
“It’s tough winning, (finding) what little something could kick you forward to win a little more,” he said. “I don’t quite finish it off. I don’t quite keep it going. I had a couple of leads this year and I didn’t quite finish it off.”
Els can be forgiven for not racking up those wins at his typical pace considering the milestone event his Els for Autism Foundation reached this year. The Stoops Family Foundation Adult Services Building had its ribbon-cutting ceremony in August. The structure sits on the grounds of the Els Center of Excellence, a 26-acre campus that includes two charter schools.
The adult center is furthering its mission to help those on the spectrum transition from high school to adulthood.
“Being that we’ve been an ongoing center, with the lower school, upper school, we’ve got our golf program at the back, and this is a continuation of what we are doing here, moving into the future,” Els said.
A future for Ernie Els that will become more and more busy, and that’s not including his time on the course.