Easy Street, Well Kind of

Ernie Els, the Big Easy, finished 3^rd yesterday at the PGA Championship. Ernie played well in the last two majors of the year, and actually had a chance to win this weekend’s event had a couple more putts dropped. He was within two of Tiger on the back, but failed to capitalize on some short birdie attempts.

I decided to look into Els’ performance in Majors over the past 8 years, and his results are staggering. He really is one of the greatest golfers of the Tiger era, and with a little more luck, he would have been considered one of the all time greats.

Our saviors at Wikipedia provide us with a graphical analysis:

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
The Masters	2	T6	T5	T6	2	47	T27	CUT
U.S. Open	T2	T66	T24	T5	T9	T15	T26	T51
The Open Championship	T2	T3	1	T18	2	T34	3	T4
PGA Championship	T34	T13	T34	T5	T4	DNP	T16	3

Yellow is pretty good. Ernie has played in 31 majors since 2000 and finished 6^th or better in 15 of them. He was only able to capture the British in 2002. So 48%, of the time he’s beating at least 98% of the field. He just struggles with that other 2%. I always feel bad for guys who are close so many times. I have a lot of respect for Ernie as he’s a class act, and has never bitched about his ongoing “Bridesmaid” status.(Sorry Buzz) I know a few players who could learn from him, cough, Sergio. One would think he was from Cleveland, and not South Africa. I hope he’s able to keep his game sharp. I look forward to him playing well at the Masters in 8 months. Wow, eight months seems a long time away.

I can’t feel too bad for Ernie though. He’s collected almost $30 million in tournament winnings, and has a really cool accent. Two things I long for everyday.