Golf
Els lauds SA golf structures
2011-06-14 21:28
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Bethesda - It's no mystery to Ernie Els that currently half of golf's four majors belong to South Africans and the chances are reasonable at this week's US Open that they could make it three out of four.
The 41-year-old Els won the second of his three majors at the Congressional Country Club here in 1997 as he blazed a path for a younger generation of compatriots who have exploded onto the scene over the last few years.
It started with Retief Goosen with his US Open wins in 2001 and 2004 and then came Trevor Immelman's win at the 2008 Masters, Louis Oosthuizen at last year's British Open and Charl Schwartzel, who captured this year's Masters in dramatic fashion.
The key, according to Els is organisation, national pride and sheer hard work.
"I think the way they came through the system (was the key). I think South Africa needs to take a lot of credit for that," Els said.
"We've got great junior programs, great amateur programs, and it's been in place even when I was a junior, even before I was born it was in place. And it's been kept in place by really, really good people.
"Obviously I had a bit of a hand in Louis and Charl, but again, they were born with the talent, they had the inner drive within themselves.
"We've got a great golfing history, and we're very proud of that, and we keep maturing that. And I think that's why you will keep on seeing youngsters coming through from South Africa."
Els is often cited by Oosthuizen and Schwartzel as being the inspiration that made them take up golf, work hard at it, leave their homeland and finally strike gold at the majors.
He was the one they watched back home on television as he won tournaments worldwide and then he set up the golfing foundation which allowed them both to leave behind their modest domestic circumstances to join the ranks of professional golfers.
But Immelman, too, had a key role to play, according to Oosthuizen, who remembers competing against him when he had just joined the junior ranks and Immelman was the established star about to leave and join the seniors.
"What he did for us was brilliant because it just made the dream more realistic that you also played with him," he said.
"We never really played with Ernie or Retief, but we actually knew this guy, we played with him. And it just made it more realistic and it just made it a bit easier to realise that you can do it."
Oosthuizen also believes that it is intrinsic in the South African character to relish competing against the best in the world in the field of sports.
"South Africa is a big sporting country. We've got rugby, cricket, football, golf, tennis, you've got everything," he said.
"I think it's just a bit in our blood, really, loving to be in a situation where you can win."
Schwartzel, who birdied the last four holes of Augusta National in April to win the Masters, says that Oosthuizen's breakthrough win at St Andrews last July gave him belief that he too could one day win a major.
The two have been playing against each other since their days in the junior boys tournaments in South Africa when he was just 10 and Oosthuizen was 12.
They have battled each other for the top prizes, played team competitions together and generally grew up together as young men and golfing professionals.
"Sometimes we sit back and we share a lot of accommodation, houses together, when we're out here," Schwartzel said. "A few times we've sat back and just said, you know, you actually see what we've done, where we came from. We are very proud of it."
At just 28-year-old for Oosthuizen and 26 for Schwartzel, there could just be a lot more pride to be felt over the next few years.