Golf Central

The South Africans may be running out of patience with one of their favourite native sons, Ernie Els.

Mike Willis, a columnist for South Africa's biggest news organisation Independent News & Media, wrote recently in a story headlined "Why Ernie Will Never Be Better Than Tiger" that Els' career arc was beginning, disappointingly, to resemble that of Greg Norman - another formidable talent who never quite reached the peaks.

Willis congratulates the Big Easy for his three majors, but then harps on the failures - nine seconds and thirds in majors - and suggests that Els, like Norman, may be spending too much time on outside interests rather than his golf.

Wow. It's not the nicest thing to say about a genuinely nice sportsman who is one of South Africa's great representatives. "They earn their millions on the back of our emotional engagement ... if they dash us onto the rocks too often, we turn sour."

Willis concludes by saying: "Revealingly, Tiger's website is focused entirely on golf. No chardonnay's or cabernet's for him."

By the way, Mike, chardonnays and cabernets do not require apostrophes. But anyway, we're hoping for Els to win another big one this year and stick it right back in his critics' pockets.

For the full story, visit our friends at Cape Town's Saturday Argus.

His Southern accent will fit right in at Augusta, but Boo Weekley's down-home attitude may still be a bit too different for that tight-collared crew that call themselves the guardians of the Masters.

But ready or not, boys in the green jackets, Boo's coming, on your invitation.

A great 2007 for Boo got even better recently when Weekley received his invitation to the 2008 Masters, making him one of the elite field of 90-95 golfers who will tee it up for the first major of the golf season.

In addition to becoming a beloved cult figure, Weekley had a super season on the course: he won the MCI Heritage in dramatic fashion, ended up 23rd on the PGA Tour money list, and teamed up with his old high-school mate Heath Slocum in representing the United States in the World Cup in China.

Weekley opened some eyes early on the Tour by turning up for practice rounds in camouflage pants, and sometimes wore an undershirt beneath his golf shirt which made him look as if his arms were heavily tattooed.

We think Boo is going to do just fine at Augusta ... and in 2008 as a whole. But leave the tattoo shirt behind at Augusta, Boo - not because of the snobs in charge of running the tournament, but because, let's face it, it's a damn ugly shirt.

On this day in 1925, Pete Dye, one of the most famed golf course architects of the last 50 years, was born in Urbana, Illinois, apparently on a mission to make the lives of pampered Tour professionals miserable.

Let's just say that Dye and Old Tom Morris probably would not have gotten along. Whereas the ancient golf designers like Morris used the natural contours of the earth to fashion a course, Dye - a self-professed "digger" - never met a bulldozer he didn't like.

To give him credit, Dye's designs are among the most creative and revolutionary in the world. And the par-3 17th hole at his signature TPC at Sawgrass course - home of the PGA Tour's PLAYERS Championship - stands as one of golf's most memorable and tough holes, often called the "world's most terrifying tee shot". But more on the famous 17th at Sawgrass later ...

On this day in 1946, a strange, funky, super-resiliant and oddly invincible creature was born in Birmingham, Alabama - two-time major champion Hubert Green.

Miserunderstood? Probably. A bit different? Sure. But respected? Definitely. But there is no mistake that Hubert Green, who won the 1977 US Open despite a death threat hanging over his head on the 68th hole of the championship, earned his way into the World Golf Hall of Fame when he was elected this year alongside Curtis Strange and Se-Ri Pak.

Never mind that Green was never the most popular of champions. If you do a Google search for "Hubert Green + surly" you'll come up with more than 6,000 matches. But golf was never about making friends for Hubert, because he could do something that most people couldn't - win golf tournaments ...

On this day in 1990, the US Vice President Dan Quayle stuck his foot in it again by ... playing a round of golf at the Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California.

If Quayle's common sense had ever been as good as his golf game, the former veep might have avoided so many potshots during his time as the No. 2 to President George H.W. Bush from '89-93. And Quayle is still quite handy with the sticks - he was captain of the golf team at DePauw University in Indiana and plays off a very tidy index of 5.

But Quayle was an easy target, for his frequent verbal stumbles ("It's time for the human race to enter the solar system"), bumbles (misspelling "potato" as "potatoe" at an elementary school spelling bee) and fumbles in debates ("Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy"). Naturally, everyone thought Dan Quayle was thicker than a bag of ball-peen hammers.

Still, what was the big stink about the vice president playing golf? After all, Clinton teed it up every week, didn't he? ... and even Quayle's wife Marilyn once admitted: "Dan would rather play golf than have sex any day." ...