SOUTHPORT, England – At 47 years young, Ernie Els has no illusions of where he fits into the modern landscape.
“You stand on the range there, you see that TrackMan, guys are hitting it 320 [yards]. I'm hitting it 280, and they're hitting it 320,” he said following a second-round 68 at The Open. “But the golf course equalizes everybody. You can't be hitting 320 drives each and every hole. So you don't have to play perfect golf around here.”
Els wasn’t perfect on Day 1 at Royal Birkdale, but he was gritty enough to find himself in the championship that defies the generational gap.