‘Big Easy’ loses cool after poor putting

ERNIE ELS turned the air blue in frustration as putting woes continued to hamper his attempts to force his way on to the leaderboard at the British Open.

The big South African has yet to win this year. But he had come into the tournament with high hopes of challenging after rediscovering his form in the Scottish Open, where he posted a closing 65 to finish third.

He has however left himself with a huge amount of work to do over the weekend after adding a second round 70 to his opening 72 to stand at level par for the tournament.

That was six shots adrift of the pace being set by overnight leader Sergio Garcia and Els admitted he had spurned a string of chances to put himself closer to the leaders in good conditions for low scoring.

“It could have been four or five better,” he said. “It was a frustrating day. I had a lot of looks at birdies and again I didn’t capitalise on a lot of it.

“The score is okay — it’s even par. But I still feel I could be quite a few better. But it is what it is. I move on from there. At least I am in the house on even par and maybe I can look at a good weekend.”

Els’s languid manner on the golf course has earned him the nickname ‘the Big Easy’ but he appeared anything but relaxed when he reacted to a missed birdie putt on the ninth green with an x-rated outburst.