News: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance

Fresh off a top-10 finish, Ernie Els heads to the Memorial Tournament.

Editor’s note: Ernie Els is writing a blog for PGATOUR.COM in 2012 and here is his most recent installment. For more information on the World Golf Hall of Fame, visit www.ernieels.com.

Lots to talk about from the recent BMW PGA Championship. Obviously it was great to be back on what is virtually home turf for me. To be honest, it’s hard to think of a nicer place than Wentworth when the weather is as good as it was last week. It was my first time there this year and I’ve missed the place, I really have.

From the feedback and reactions I was getting in the tournament build-up there’s no question the players have appreciated the few tweaks that we’ve made to the West Course since the original renovation. If you play well then you can score well, but if you’re marginally off then the golf course will penalize you. I think we all agree that’s how it is meant to be with championship golf. I have so much passion for this event and for this golf course that I just want everything to be perfect for everyone.

Anyway, I want to focus today on what was a really fantastic week for European golf and for Wentworth Club. We had amazing weather and more than 95,000 spectators through the gates, which is a record for this tournament. And, of course, we had a fine and worthy winner in Luke Donald. I predicted at the start that a score of around 16 under might win and Luke was only one shot shy of that mark. He played great.

My week started with Sam Torrance caddying for me in the pro-am. He’d paid for the privilege at a charity auction in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association. I didn’t know that until he walked on the first tee, which was a surprise to me but obviously a very nice one! Sam and I have been great friends for a long time. He must have been a good omen for me as well, because we won the pro-am on 24 under, which was some going. Ricci doesn’t have to worry, though. He’ll stay on the bag!

I’ve had a few slow starts in this tournament over the years, which has put pressure on me from the get-go. Not this year, though. My first round was almost perfect. Up to the 14^th tee it was a beautiful round of golf. I made a couple of soft bogeys, which was a shame, but I got lucky on No. 18 to get out of there with a par, so that kind of balanced the books a little bit. I went out wanting to shoot something under 70 so all in all I was happy with the way I played and happy with a 68.

Overall I was pretty happy with the way I played all week. The course got somewhat tougher as the week went on, especially on Friday and Saturday when the breeze picked up. The way the wind swirls around those big old trees, and with the course playing pretty firm, you had to be precise with your shots. But as I’ve always said, if you play good golf this course rewards you and some of the guys at the top of the leaderboard proved that. I shot 2 under on Saturday and got myself into a decent position going into the final round. I was maybe a bit too far back to challenge Luke, especially as solid as he tends to be these days, but there was plenty to play for.

I just didn’t quite get it going on Sunday, but a 5-under aggregate and tied-seventh was a solid performance in a tournament where I’ve really not had the best record in the past 10 years. I’ll take some positives over to Muirfield Village where this week I’ll be playing in another of my favorite tournaments, the Memorial.

Winning here in 2004 was definitely one of the highlights of my career. How much would I love to repeat that? A lot, obviously! I’ve loved this golf course since I first started coming here in the mid-1990s. Jack has done a fantastic job with the design. In my opinion, it’s one of the best golf courses that we play on the PGA TOUR and the way the guys set it up is perfect. Jack obviously has a world of experience as a golf course architect, but he’s also in the position of having been a great player and therefore he can see things through a professional player’s eyes.

Jack wants the players to feel challenged by the course and, because he prides himself on quality, he also wants it to be in perfect shape. And this golf course is perfect in every way – the greens, the fairways, the bunkers, the way the tees are mown; basically everything. It’s one of the best-conditioned courses that we play on all year and it is a joy to play on. The practice facilities are superb, as well.

Design-wise I think it suits my eye and the way I see my shots. It’s funny how some courses do that to you and then there are others where it’s the total opposite. One of the things I really like about Muirfield Village is the fairways are quite generous, so I feel I can be fairly aggressive off the tee. Actually, my driving this year has been one of the real strengths of my game. The Callaway RAZR Fit driver that I’m using is working seriously well for me and that is backed-up by my stats. I’m most improved player this year on the PGA TOUR for ‘total driving’ compared to 2011.

Going into the greens is where you can be quite creative at Muirfield Village, shaping your shots depending on the wind or the pin position. If you can give yourself plenty of opportunities, you can make some putts here because the greens are flawless. I had one of the best putting weeks of my life when I won in 2004; just 100 putts for four rounds, which I think is still a record for this tournament.

Anyway, I feel good about my chances every time I tee it up here. I just need to make a good start to this tournament – kind of establish myself early and then be in a good position going into the weekend’s play. Can’t wait to tee it up!