Ernie Els continued his second round at the Masters with more bad luck on the first hole. Starting six-over after the first hole would discourage most, but the Big Easy was able to staying somewhat composed.
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He three-putted from 25 feet at No. 2. Then the 3-footer for bogey. Els finally used a nonchalant one-hand swing to tap the ball back toward the cup and it lipped out, prompting him to reach over and again one-hand the ball, this time mercifully into the bottom of the cup.
He bristled at a question about his confidence level, saying: “I was (ranked) fourth in the world, and I’m still fourth in the world, so, yeah, I feel good”. It’s unexplainable. You know, a lot of people have stopped playing the game, you know, getting that feeling. “I can’t explain it You have snakes and stuff going up in your brain”. “I’m not sure where I go from here”, he said. “It’s something, there’s a short up there somewhere and you just can’t do what you normally do”.
“What do I take out of the week?” “The one thing he say’s about playing Augusta’s green; he said he always tries to look at the highest spot he could aim and still make the putt”.
The South African’s score of nine on Augusta National’s 402-metre first hole is not the worst score in a major championship, and far from the worst at Augusta. A 10 on the opening hole (the worst first-hole score in the 80 years of the Masters).
April 7, 2016 will go down as the most weird opening round I have witnessed in my 13 years attending the Masters. Whatever you do, the ball just won’t go home.
Els, who switched to a left-hand low putting stroke earlier this year after issues at an event in South Africa, said he tried something different on Tuesday.
Ernie Els revealed his fellow players had given him “funny” looks after his battle with the dreaded “yips” resurfaced in heartbreaking fashion.
Els missed the 3-footer for par, then kept knocking putts past the hole. 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.
Els spent some extra time on the practice putting green with coach David Leadbetter last night to work on his putting. Ernie Els has finished in the top five at The Masters three times and the top 10 six times. The game of golf you’ve got to do some silly things when you play long enough….
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One over par through 15, Mickelson rallied with birdies on 16 and 17.
