Ernie Els
One of the objectives of The Golf Fanatic’s Blog will be to track the career of star golfer Ernie Els. Why, one may wonder, would I want to do that? Well, aside from the fact that I have always been a fan of his famous “Big Easy” golf swing, the guy was gentlemanly enough to respond to my request to write the foreword to my book, The Golf Fanatic’s Guide to Hawaii.
Ernie Els at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines
Now, that was pretty cool. It’s one thing to research and write a book about the top 50 golf courses in the Aloha State (which was also pretty cool), but to have a star of Ernie Els’ stature back your project stamps the book with instant authenticity. Is the book better because of this? Well, about 300 words or so are, but the rest of the pages are unchanged by the presence of a few paragraphs of Mr. Els’ words preceding them. The true value of those words is that they will help me to promote golf in Hawaii, to educate, entertain, and inform more readers, and, frankly, to sell more books. For this, I will always be immeasurably grateful.
Now, if I were reading about someone else doing this, I would assume that they had probably blanketed the top 25 golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings and hoped that one would bite on the opportunity for a little self promotion. That would be my cynical guess. Which is why I am especially pleased that, in fact, Ernie Els was the only one I approached to write my foreword. And here is why:
Ernie Els has been spectacularly successful competing in Hawaii. In 2003, he went back-to-back, winning the first two tournaments of the year, The Mercedes Championship at Kapalua followed by the Sony Open at Waialae. He set the PGA Tour record of 31-under at Kapalua that year, which, having played The Plantation Course, I can tell you is a seriously mind-bending number. Then, in 2004, he won the Sony Open again. Prior to those wins, he won The Grand Slam of Golf, which was played at Poipu Bay on Kauai, in 1997. This followed his first major win at the US Open, as The Grand Slam is an unofficial event that features the four winners of each of the Grand Slam golf events of the year. In 1997, Ernie beat Masters winner Tiger Woods, British Open champ Justin Leonard, and PGA Championship winner Davis Love III. Having lived (and followed golf) in Hawaii on and off since 1995, I also know how popular Mr. Els is in the state, how loud the crowd roars for him, and how many folks follow his rounds.
I also knew that he had a new golf course opening on Oahu after my book was going to print, and that he may want the opportunity to get the word out about it. In fact, I told him he could blatantly plug his new course. I was surprised then, when his foreword arrived and there was only a very short mention of this new course. Mostly, he lauded my efforts, and plugged golf in Hawaii. Again, this was a gentlemanly move.
So, in order to pay off my karmic debt to Ernie Els (and just to good-naturedly follow the career of a good guy), I’ll be publicizing and promoting his career here. I hope you all enjoy.
Aloha,
Bryan Fryklund
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