British Open Profile: Ernie Els

Best Odds: 33/1 (Coral)
Age: 43
World Ranking: 13
Best Results in Open: Champion - 2002, 2012

Open Record:

By a peculiar twist of fate, ‘The Big Easy’ finds himself both the defending champion and the returning champion after tasting victory at Muirfield back in 2002. Back then Els was in his pomp having just finished T2 and T3 in his previous Open bids. In total the South African has landed 13 top-ten finishes in this tournament. Yet last year came out of the blue as his career was seemingly winding down after two consecutive missed Open cuts. Funny old game.

Form:

Has essentially done nothing in US PGA tour events and yet he keeps popping up at the business end of the big four tournaments. Finished T13 at the Masters before scoring a very commendable T4 at the US Open. Then, a week after, he won the BMW International Open to claim his 28th European Tour title and move back up the world rankings.

Verdict:

By all realms of logic he shouldn’t really have a chance…and yet. The last two winners of the Open have now been in their 40s so it seems foolish to write last year off as a fluke. It has to be said that Els was somewhat handed the Claret Jug on a plate by Adam Scott but he still got the job done. Furthermore, that recent victory in Germany shows there’s life in the old dog yet, and course expertise is an invaluable commodity.