South Africa's two-time US Open and British Open winner Ernie Els made his return to the golf circuit in the Nedbank Golf Challenge yesterday after injuring himself in July.
The 36-year-old -- known as the "Big Easy" -- injured his left knee in a water sports accident while on a family holiday in the Mediterranean and faces a tough comeback with six of the top 10 golfers in the world participating.
Missing are Tiger Woods (1), Vijay Singh (2) and Phil Mickelson (3), but Retief Goosen (4), the defending champion, Els (5), Sergio Garcia (6), Jim Furyk (7), Adam Scott (8), Chris DiMarco (9) and Kenny Perry (10) are in a 12-man field chasing the US$1,2 million first prize -- one of the biggest in the sport.
PHOTO: AP
After two operations and an intensive period of rehab and physiotherapy Els feels he is now ready to start playing again. But he admits to being uncertain and a little anxious about how he is going to perform.
"The doctor says the knee's fine although I do still try and protect it a bit so there's the pyschological thing," Els said.
Els, a three-time winner of this tournament, holds the scoring record of 25-under-par 263 at Sun City set in 1999.
PHOTO: AP
But changes to the par-72 Gary Player Country Club course over the last few years means it is now, at a back-breaking 7,162m, a much longer and tougher layout and Goosen's winning aggregate last year was a very different seven-under 281.
Goosen, who took over the world No. 4 spot from Els in the latter half of this year, said that although he feels he has had a good year which has brought him three worldwide victories, swing problems and an inability to convert his chances to win in "a couple of Majors" means he can only give himself eight out of 10 instead of full marks.
Besides Els and Goosen, Spain's Garcia is the only other previous winner in this year's field, having beaten both Els (in 2001) and Goosen (in 2003) with birdies at the par-three 16th in sudden-death play.
"I love that hole, and it's made me a lot of money," the 25-year-old Spaniard said with a chuckle. "Hopefully it'll be kind to me again because last year I finished stone last here and I need to make up for that."
Els says while he believes anyone in the 12-man field has the ability to win this week, he feels the three players appearing here for the first time -- England's Luke Donald, Argentina's Angel Cabrera and the US' Stewart Cink -- will be at a disadvantage.
"I just think it's one of those courses you need to play quite often before you can score well on it, and the crowds are very pro-South African so if one of those three guys do win I'll take my hat off to them," Els said.
Kang takes lead in Hong Kong
Former champion Kang Wook-soon reeled off five consecutive birdies to lead the UBS Hong Kong Open by a stroke yesterday as Colin Montgomerie double-bogeyed his way to a one-under-par 69.
Kang, the 1998 winner, shot a six-under 64 -- an effective course record at the redesigned par-70 Hong Kong Golf Club -- to lie one ahead of Jyoti Randhawa, Rick Gibson and Martin Erlandsson after the first round.
England's Richard McEvoy, who had an opening-day-record 62 last year, was another stroke back on four-under 66 with Francois Delamontagne of France and Dane Soren Kjeldsen.
Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez was tied with Montgomerie on one-under 69 and Thomas Bjorn was on level par in the US$1.2 million co-sanctioned event.
England's Paul Casey, who claimed his fifth European Tour win at last week's Volvo China Open, came crashing down to earth with a disappointing 74.
"It was all going against me. On the third hole I hit the flag with an approach shot and went into a bunker. Thomas [Bjorn] was laughing at me," Casey said.
Montgomerie, who recently sealed his eighth European Order of Merit title, opened with a birdie but dropped a shot on the second hole before slumping to a double-bogey on the par-five third.
The Scottish world No. 17 fought back to turn at level par but bogeyed 11 before picking up shots on 12 and 16.
Monty, who received the Order of the British Empire from Prince Charles last week, said he now needed three good rounds.
South Korea's Kang, the last Asian to win the Hong Kong Open, stormed up the back nine with five birdies from 13-17.
The 39-year-old putted his heart out, holing from 20 feet on 15 and 12 feet on 14 and 16 as he rediscovered the form that brought him seven Asian titles.
"I can't remember the last time I got five birdies in a row. My record is six," said Kang, who said he had been trekking in the 1,700m Suh-rak mountain near Seoul to get in shape.
Canada's Gibson dropped a shot on the first before setting off on a birdie streak of his own, knocking in four in a row from holes five to eight.
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