Els home on the range at Wentworth
Retief Goosen, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley reside down the road in Ascot, Chobham and Sunningdale respectively.
Several other members of the European Tour revel in the atmosphere in this exclusive part of Surrey.
And yet, local knowledge hasn’t played a huge part in the destination of recent PGA Championships with each of the last four winners, Andrew Oldcorn, Anders Hansen, Ignacio Garrido and Scott Drummond, starting as rank outsiders.
The big names will want to rectify that over the next four days, not least because BMW are the new sponsors of the championship and putting up a record 4 million prize fund, with 666,660 for the champion.
Els has captured six World Match Play championships over the Burma Road, including the last three. Bjorn, a man in form after winning the British Masters a fortnight ago, was the losing finalist two years ago. But the PGA crown has evaded both men over the years and given the quality of this week’s field, may well do so again.
Ryder Cup skipper Bernhard Langer and Sergio Garcia are absentees, and among the former champions are Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam, Jose Maria Olazabal and Nick Faldo.
Els is the 9-2 favourite for another victory over the Burma Road while his South African compatriot and US Open champion Retief Goosen is quoted at 8-1 second favourite. He is entering a part of his season where big wins are commonplace.
After his success at Shinnecock Hills last June, Goosen went out two weeks later at The K Club and walked off with the Smurfit European Open.
Inevitably, though, there will be complaints and there was one particularly abrasive moment yesterday when Bjorn, one of the European vice-captains at Oakland Hills last September, appeared to take a clear swipe at Garcia.
“This is the biggest tournament on the European Tour,” he pointed out.
“The players here are European Tour players. That’s what it’s all about. There are even a couple of European guys missing this week but would you consider them European Tour players when they don’t want to play in this championship?”
As it happens, top Irishman Padraig Harrington has missed Wentworth the last two years so how does he react to the comments of Bjorn, who happens to be one of his best friends?
“Every player has to decide a schedule for himself,” he responded.
“When I didn’t play for the past couple of years, I still felt I was supporting the tour strongly enough by playing other events.
"I’m playing one more this year. I felt it was my duty to do that. Sergio has always based himself in the States. I don’t think there’s any duty on him to come over and play this event if he doesn’t feel like he wants to.”
A dream of the European Tour was realised when after painstaking talks, they came to an agreement with BMW to become the new sponsors of their flagship tournament.
Both sides were happy, as also were the people behind the world ranking system, who allocated the championship 64 points, the most available on the European circuit.
Just about everybody, including the bookmakers who have installed him a 9-2 favourite, believe Els is the man they all have to beat over a 7,072 yards, par 72 lay-out on which he has captured the World Matchplay championship a record six times, including each of the last three years.
He loves to play here, not least because he lives on the luxurious Wentworth estate, giving preference to that particular mansion ahead of similar homes back in his native George in South Africa and Orlando, Florida.
“I’ve had one hand on this trophy in the past but never been able to grasp it with both,” he mused.
“Unfortunately, Vijay and Tiger are not here but the best of Europe are here.
“We have a great course, a great venue and next to the Open Championship, this is the best tournament on the European Tour.
“It’s been a good year for me but I didn’t play well in the Masters, I just wasn’t on my game.”
Harrington would scorn his 12-1 third favourite rating, given his dislike for the course at this time of year.
He admits he is looking forward to the week with “trepidation” and admits to “still finding the greens difficult”.
Darren Clarke is fourth favourite at 16-1, while the other Irish players in the field are Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley, Peter Lawrie, Gary Murphy and Damien McGrane, along with David Higgins, Conor Mallon and Philip Walton from the home region order of merit, and Finbarr Madden from the English east region.
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