Golf Events / Romilly Evans / 30 November 2010 /

After years of underachievement, injury and personal upheaval, Ernie Els is about to make up for lost time - starting at this week's Nedbank, says Romily Evans

I hate feeling sorry for multi-millionaire sportsmen. It's a character flaw which goes beyond preposterous - and that's even before I check my monthly bank statement, or assess my own athletic ability. In fact, I'm going to make it my New Year's resolution to stop. But before I do, permit me one last journey where I scale the heights of Mount Ridiculous and throw myself off its peak... this time for thinking Ernie Els needs a little TLC.

Save your breath, I've heard the riposte. Three Majors, two World Golf Championships and 60 other professional titles to his name, numerous lucrative endorsements, it's not a bad CV. As for the personal side of things... privileged upbringing, attractive wife, sweet kids and a healthy appetite for good food and wine. There are worse fates, I suppose. And I'm living one of them.

Still, things have gotten somewhat more complex for Ernie since he first burst on the golfing scene with his effortless swing and easy-going demeanour. Major success quickly followed and by the age of 27 he had picked up two US Opens and World No.1 status. It was a phenomenal effort for one so young. And he appeared the one "phenom" who was actually delivering on his potential. The year was 1997.

However, in golf, 1997 is remembered for the emergence of the phenom's phenom, Tiger Woods. Woods took his first major, The Masters, in the same year by a staggering nine shots as a lean 21-year-old and blazed a trail of dominance the like of which professional sport has seldom seen. And if Els didn't crumble, he was certainly left in Woods' wake.

The year 2000 proved a most eloquent case in point. Woods won three of the four majors, often by record margins, Els finished second in three. The Big Easy was growing uneasy. For so long the lead composer for a new generation, Els was about to be recast in a supporting role. Now he was doomed to play Salieri to Tiger's Mozart. Cue the violins.

Thirteen solar cycles since Tiger tore up Ernie's script and not much has changed when it comes to golf's premier prizes. In fact, the affable South African has only managed to add one major (the 2002 Open Championship) to his rollcall of honour. Woods has 14. Even Phil Mickelson, America's original nearly man, now owns more majors than Els.

Indeed, Mickelson's belated breakthrough at the 2004 Masters set Big Ernie back even further. While the left-hander was getting lost among the azaleas of Augusta National, Els produced a dazzling final round of 67 to set what appeared an insurmountable target. The only salient question was: did they have a green jacket big enough? But Mickelson was not to be denied, posting an astonishing five birdies over the closing seven holes to make up a three-shot deficit. Els was left marooned on the putting green to a cacophony of cheers from the partisan galleries. He has never come close since, which is odd around a track which plays to his strengths. And after a never-nearer 18th at Augusta this season, Els left the course in a state of disarray, expounding that the place simply held too many bad memories for him.

Things have been tricky off the course, too. First there was reconstructive knee surgery in 2005. Then four years ago, the bombshell: doctors finally discovered what had been holding back his slow-developing son, Ben. Autism was the diagnosis and it hit his whole family hard. A private person with a public profile, Els was initially reluctant to talk about his boy's acute condition. But the initial shock soon turned to understanding, and he now champions a charity for the neural disorder. Els For Autism.

An ensuing relocation from Surrey to Florida in order to facilitate his boy's therapy also bodes well for Els' golf - especially on the US Tour where he got back to winning ways with back-to-back victories earlier this year. This is surely only the beginning. At 41, Els is entering a stage of his career that can yet prove his most prolific. After all, it happened for Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry, and they only had a fraction of his ability.

So watch out for any fancy prices chalked up on the European and in particular US Money Lists when more liquidity appears over the coming weeks. More immediately, though, consider the South African for this week's homecoming at the Nedbank Challenge where he's a stand-out [6.4] to back. No-one plays the Gary Player Country Club better than Els (a three-time winner and two-time runner-up) and he'll benefit from the warm and fuzzies of home comforts and old friends. Oh, and then there's the small matter of $1.25m for winning before boarding his private jet back to the States.

Yes, this is another multi-millionaire who neither wants nor needs my sympathy.

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