Ernie Els, the three-time Major champion, has slightly more vibrant memories of the place where he learnt his golf. “Some of my earliest memories are of Dad dropping me and my brother Dirk at the golf course on a Saturday morning. We would play three rounds in a day and then Dad would finish work and come get us and we’d be walking up the 18th when it was pitch dark. I loved my time there,” Els told The Indian Express.

If not for those hours spent at the Kempton Park, Els’s cricketing ambitions might have taken prominence over golf. “I always loved playing cricket. To be honest, Dad had a real battle getting me away from cricket to concentrate on golf. But I still catch up with the game. I try to go watch some matches whenever my schedule allows and I’m good friends with a lot of the South African players. Some of them come and play in my invitational golf tournament every year where we raise money for various charities in South Africa,” Els said.

Re-charting connections

Funnily though, the golf club that sponsored Els’s during his junior career is hesitant to use his name for publicity. Mike Sebanz, director of golf at Kempton reasons it out. “The members haven’t seen much of Els lately, his dad and brother, too, have moved out,” he said. But he added: “Els has always acknowledged the club’s influence on his career. Maybe we can use his name, that won’t be wrong after all. That green where he learned to putt is still the same. Hopefully once Els is done playing he will come around this place again and we can rechart his connection with the course,” Sebanz said.

Meanwhile Els, apart from handling his profitable wine business and the Big Easy restaurant in Stellenbosch, is helping underprivileged South African kids. “The Ernie Els & Fancourt Foundation helps kids from underprivileged backgrounds. We have been very pleased with the results. Louis Oosthuizen, a former member, played at Augusta this year at the Masters. There are other golfers who have already won professional events and we have a good young crop now, so it is exciting. This programme has helped make kids more aware of golf and the opportunities it can give you in life,” Els said.