Ernie Els was delighted to be back at the event where it all began as he prepared to tee it up at the Investec South African Open Championship for the first time in eight years.
The four-time Major champion has a long history with his national open, having first played it in 1986 and lifted the Freddie Tait Cup as leading amateur three years later.
But it would be another three years before he won the big prize in 1992, a victory that set in motion one of the finest careers in South African sport.
He would win again the following week and two times the following month en route to a six-win season on the Sunshine Tour that catapulted him onto the international stage.
Victory at the Dubai Desert Classic in 1994 handed him a first DP World Tour win and later that year would come the U.S. Open triumph that made him a Major Champion.
His tally of DP World Tour wins stands at 28, with two Harry Vardon Trophies, while he has also enjoyed much success on the PGA TOUR and been World Number One.
But the 56-year-old can trace all that back to the first of his five wins at his home open.
“I’ve played quite a few,” he said. “Started as an amateur, a junior really, in 1986 playing as a 16-year-old. I think Frosty (David Frost) won at Royal Johannesburg.
“And then all the way through and I’m 56 years of age today so it just shows you what this tournament has meant to me and us as a family also.
“1992 was a big win at Houghton, that really got me started winning a lot of tournaments around the world.
“It got me a European Tour card, it got me the US privileges to play there so this tournament really was the start of my whole career.”
This week sees the event return to Stellenbosch Golf Club for just the second time and first since 1999.
Els – along with Hennie Otto and Jean Hugo – is one of just three players in the field this week to have teed it up 27 years ago and he is delighted to be back in a town steeped in South African sporting history.
“It’s great to be back,” he said.
“Although I’m from the Johannesburg area I’ve got deep roots that go here in Stellenbosch. Liezl my wife is fom here, a lot of great friends, the winery.
“In 1985 I played a junior golf event here, so we go back 40 years in these parts. It’s very nice to be back.”
