Golf
Els chasing top honours at St Andrews─── ADRIAN BOTHA 09:36 Thu, 05 Oct 2017
Ernie Els will is back at St Andrews to chase a first elusive victory in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 47-year old Els will be a part of a 18 man strong South African contingent of amatures and pro's that include the 2012 champion Branden Grace, the 2016 joint runner up Richard Sterne as well as former Protea wicket keeper Mark Boucher who will be battling it out among the amateur participants.
The Big Easy was part of the South African team that twice claimed victory at the Alfred Dunhill Cup which was the predecessor to the now Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Els says, "A win at the Home of Golf feels very sweet and I was lucky enough to experience that as part of the South African team. It would obviously be nice to have done that in the Dunhill Links, which is a championship I would 100 per cent love to win."
Now in his 28th year of professional golf, Els has come so close to claiming victory at the championships with the first coming in 2001 when he finished as runner up behind Scotland's Paul Lawrie.
The second of Ernie's near misses was two years later when he finished 1 stroke behind eventual winner Lee Westwood of England.
The tournament runs from today till Sunday with each player playing one round each on the three courses before a 54-hole cut is made and the final round is played at St Andrews.