By Tony Jimenez
VIRGINIA WATER, England May 26 (Reuters) – Course designer
Ernie Els let rip at Wentworth’s greenkeeping staff and PGA
Championship officials on Saturday after shrugging off tricky
conditions to move to the fringes of contention.
The 42-year-old South African’s ire was raised after he hit
an excellent four-iron approach shot at the par-five 18th and
the ball bounded through the green into a deep bunker.
“I landed my second probably five yards too far,” Els told
reporters after shooting a two-under-par 70 for a five-under
aggregate of 211.
“How much money did we spend on the 18th? We built a dam
there. Why the hell was the green not holding?
“My point is, you hit a driver and then a four-iron gets you
in the middle of the green. What else must you do next? Must I
be the greenkeeper here?,” Els fumed.
“I’m a player, I’m not even supposed to tell them. Put water
on a damn golf course? Surely they should know that? I can’t
control the wind and (it seems) I can’t control the greens staff
either.”
The sun shone all day at the tree-lined West Course but only
a handful of players managed to break par as winds gusting up to
40-kph sent scores soaring.
“These are difficult conditions,” said Els, who has a
property on the estate and has masterminded a complete makeover
of the layout in recent years. “If a player knows he’s played
badly, shoots a bad score, he’ll take it as a man.
Continued…
