Los Angeles Times: Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els reach 100 majors at the PGA

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By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On a rainy Tuesday in the Piedmont, two days before the last big golf tournament of the year, there was nothing finer in Carolina than to hear Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els talk about reaching the century mark — and Rory McIlroy talk about Phil and Ernie, along with some comments of his own game.

When the 99th PGA Championship begins Thursday at Quail Hollow Country Club, Mickelson and Els each will be playing in his 100th major championship, a total achieved by only 12 others and topped by the 164 of the great Jack Nicklaus.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Global Golf Post: Comebacks Anything But Easy

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By Art Spander
Global Golf Post

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA — Such an appropriate nickname. "The Big Easy." Golf, however, is nothing but easy, even for the man with the relaxed, easy swing, Ernie Els.

"I've been to the dark side a couple of times," said Els.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2015 Global Golf Post

Newsday (N.Y.): Ernie Els, 44, makes it back to match play semifinals

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

Thirteen years and a hemisphere apart, Ernie Els again is in the semifinals of the Accenture WGC World Match Play Championship after a victory over a kid not half his age.

Els, 44, took advantage of his experience and the ineffectiveness of 20-year-old Jordan Spieth for a 4-and-2 victory Saturday in their quarterfinal at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain in the foothills north of Tucson.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2014 Newsday. All rights reserved.

RealClearSports: Did Adam Scott Really Choke?

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England — The word was everywhere, making a bad situation worse, as if what happened to Adam Scott the final day of the British Open, the final holes of the British Open, could be worse.

Scott not only lost the Open, blew the Open, came in second to Ernie Els, but was being branded a “choke,’’ and there’s nothing more demeaning in sports, nothing more damaging.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2012

Global Golf Post: Pebble Beach Revealed as Beauty AND Beast

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By Art Spander
For GlobalGolfPost.com

PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA -- It's a near-lethal combination, the U.S. Open and Pebble Beach, a tournament which can ruin your mind and wrench your wrists, and a course where the sun rarely shines and the putts hardly fall.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 Global Golf Post

SF Examiner: McDowell the last man standing

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By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

PEBBLE BEACH — The winner, of course, was the course, Pebble Beach. Graeme McDowell was the champion, the guy who finished first, but it was Pebble — tough, mystical Pebble — that proved the winner.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2010 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Els Was on Target With Tiger

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By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

MARANA, Ariz. -- Ernie Els nailed this one. He was on target. Tiger Woods only would be on cue. Only acting out a carefully staged production.

Only telling us how he made mistakes. And telling us during the golf tournament in which Els was playing before he got eliminated.

Which is why Els nailed this one. And nailed Tiger, figuratively that is. Said on the record what many of Els fellow golf pros were saying in private.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2010