TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post

Golf Column: Els puts spell on Royal Melbourne for 2019 Presidents Cup

Ernie Els came, he saw and he put on a charm offensive that captivated the people of Melbourne, host city of the 2019 Presidents Cup

Chuah Choo Chiang (The Jakarta Post)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Fri, December 7, 2018

Share This Article

Change Size

Golf Column: Els puts spell on Royal Melbourne for 2019 Presidents Cup

E

rnie Els came, he saw and he put on a charm offensive that captivated the people of Melbourne, host city of the 2019 Presidents Cup.

Entrusted with the captaincy of the International Team for the biennial showdown against the United States at Royal Melbourne Golf Club from Dec. 9 to 15, 2019, the World Golf Hall of Fame member rallied his prospective team members and the people of Australia in a full frontal media blitz during a two-day flying visit to the capital city of the state of Victoria recently.

From the moment he stepped off the plane in Melbourne, the South African star was in his element as he eased from one engagement to another with full aplomb and spoke passionately about his love for the city, his captaincy and the highly anticipated match against a Tiger Woods-led US team.

Els’ first order of business was to announce Australia’s Geoff Ogilvy as the first of his captain’s assistants in a press conference during the final day of the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf. He then spent time speaking to Channel Nine, the official Australian broadcaster of the 2019 Presidents Cup. He later hung out and sang songs with The Fanatics — the boisterous and patriotic group of sports fans from Australia whom he hopes will spearhead the vociferous home support for his men.

That evening, at a members’ function at Royal Melbourne, the golf legend unveiled the International Team’s new logo with a goal to give the team a more unified focus while also allowing members from different countries to have the flags of their home countries represented.

“To have this logo to bond us together and still represent our countries and our flags, is something we can all be a part of and all get behind. The players here represent the future of this team with traditional countries like Australia and Korea mixed together with some new, emerging countries where golf is growing like Mexico, Thailand, India and China.”

In a massive show of support not only for the Presidents Cup, but for Els as their captain, Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Australia’s Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith, China’s Haotong Li and Ashun Wu, India’s Anirban Lahiri, Korea’s Kim Si-woo, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer, who all featured in the World Cup of Golf, participated in the logo unveiling, and Els took pride and delight in their presence.

“It’s a special group of guys from all over the world that makes up the Presidents Cup International Team,” Els said. “Being from across the globe, we don’t all play for the same flag. This special group of people needed something to identify with. To lift the spirit of the team, we felt like we needed a logo for ourselves.

“It meant a great deal to me that these young, talented future stars would make the effort to come out to this event, embrace our new team logo and be here in support of what we are trying to do with this international side.”

On day two, Els hit the radio airwaves in the morning, speaking on four different breakfast talk shows en route to a site visit at Royal Melbourne, where he holds the course record of 60 set in 2004. At every media stop, he reiterated the importance of the Australian fans rallying behind his international squad.

“We really want the crowd, the Aussie crowd, behind us this time. I know our play will dictate the noise of the crowd, but if we can get them from that first shot, I know how intimidating it can be when you’re playing in front of the team that you’re playing against the home crowd. It can be very intimidating and I want the crowd behind us,” said Els.

“I think it’s going to be a feeling of when or if we lift the trophy, it’s for the Australian people. The Australian people are not just pulling for Adam [Scott] or Jason [Day] or Leish [Marc Leishman], but they are adopting guys like Kiradech and Hideki and Jhonattan as their team to help get us over the line. It’s in Australia, that’s the last time we’ve won it. We would like to do that again, and it’s in front of them that we want to showcase our talents.

“You look at these young guys and it’s easy to think that we might have 10 or even 11 countries represented on our team. Golf is growing, especially in places like Asia and Latin America, and it’s only going to make the International Team that much stronger.”

A return to the Alistair MacKenzie-designed Royal Melbourne brought back happy memories as he has won tournaments at the famous venue. Given Els’ knowledge of the course, he was excited to meet with course superintendent Richard Forsyth to tour the course and discuss course conditions and ideas for the tournament week.

More importantly, Royal Melbourne was also the site of the International Team’s lone victory to date in the Presidents Cup, achieved in 1998, and Els believes his course knowledge can provide his 12 players with an added advantage against the Americans.

“We’ve got the home course advantage, we can do something with the golf course,” said Els. “You know, it felt like my own golf course to be honest with you. I really want to guide them through Royal Melbourne. It’s not a golf course that you’re going to overpower too much. There’s some par 5s and so forth, but for the most part it’s a positional golf course.

“I think my job is to get them to buy into my kind of system of how to play the golf course. I think that’s more important for me.”
_____________________


The writer is senior director of communications for the PGA Tour and is based at TPC Kuala Lumpur.

{

Your Opinion Matters

Share your experiences, suggestions, and any issues you've encountered on The Jakarta Post. We're here to listen.

Enter at least 30 characters
0 / 30

Thank You

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We appreciate your feedback.