By Simon Evans
March 24 (Reuters) – South African Ernie Els made a late
push for a place at the Masters with a five-under-par 67 at the
Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday.
Els, who has slipped out of the world’s top 50 ranked
players and has not earned an exemption to Augusta, would gain a
slot with victory this week or at the upcoming PGA event in
Houston.
The three-times major-winner could, possibly, also break
into the top 50 rankings with an outright third or a tied second
at Bay Hill — although that calculation would depend on the
performances of players elsewhere in the world this weekend.
The 42-year-old Els has not missed the Masters since his
first appearance in 1994, but he said he was not stressing over
his participation.
“I haven’t had a look (at the rankings) to be honest. I
know I’ve got to…almost win or something like that.
“But if I’m in, I’m in and if I’m not, I’m just glad my game
is coming around. Whatever happens, I feel like I can have a
good year now. I feel like the hard work is starting to pay
off,” he said.
There has been no indication that tournament organisers
intend to hand Els an easy route to Augusta with a special
exemption and the South African says he would not push for one.
“It’s an invitational. So you can be invited, but we all
know we have to qualify for it, and that’s that. I’m certainly
not going to be lobbying for it, and that’s that.
Continued…
