One of those days. One of those shite days.
Ernie Els, like most of the US Masters field, probably allowed visions of slipping on a nice, snug Green Jacket on Sunday evening.
As he stood at the first tee box, ‘The Big Easy’ would have been forgiven for thoughts of sauntering down Magnolia Lane as 2016 Masters champion.
As he stood at the second box, he would have been forgiven for ‘sod this’ thoughts.
Starting three feet away from the cup at the first, Els somehow managed to take six putts to banish his ball from view. A quintuple bogey to start your day. Hard to swallow. Harder to forget.
WATCH: Ernie Els made his start to The Masters look anything but easy with nightmare 10 https://t.co/zYOFe6fvHo
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) April 7, 2016
Following his +8 round of 80, Els sought to explain how he managed to card a ‘9’ on the first. He told reporters:
“It’s hard to explain. I can’t explain it.
“It’s something that I’m sure up there somewhere that you just can’t do what you normally do. It’s unexplainable.
“A lot of people have stopped playing the game, you know, it’s unexplainable. I couldn’t get the putter back.
“I was standing there, I’ve got a three‑footer, I’ve made thousands of three‑footers and I just couldn’t take it back.”
Ernie Els 7 putted the first hole, it’s excruciating to watch pic.twitter.com/0SJIyncF9k
— The Cauldron (@TheCauldron) April 7, 2016
For Els, it got much worse after shots number four and five on the par-four opener:
“And then I just kind of lost count after… I mean, the whole day was a grind. I tried to fight.
“I’m hitting the ball half decent and I can’t make it from two feet.
“I missed from two feet on 18 and a four‑footer on 17. Six‑footer on… when you count them up, it’s too many shots just out there, just on the green.
“So it’s very difficult. I’m not sure where I’m going from here.”
Els is extremely unlikely to make the weekend. The best he can hope for is to go under par and try bloody the nose of a course that has left him reeling.
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