Tiger didn’t know he hit ball twice, avoids penalty

Editor’s note: Ernie Els is writing a blog in 2017 and this is his latest installment. For more information on the World Golf Hall of Famer, visit www.ernieels.com. This week I was due to make the journey over to Europe for the KLM Open, but events here in Florida over the weekend forced me into having to withdraw. It’s a real shame because I was looking forward to teeing it up there for what would have been the fifth time in my career, and the first since 2001, but you know…sometimes Mother Nature has other plans! As most of you will have seen from the television coverage, Hurricane Irma caused scenes of total carnage as it blew across the Caribbean. My heart goes out to all those affected there. Eventually, the Hurricane made landfall in Florida on Sunday. Like millions of others, we had to evacuate our home and, as you can imagine, it’s been a very worrying time for everyone in this part of the U.S. So obviously, my primary concern right now and over the coming few days is to support my family and also our friends and employees as we come to terms with the aftermath of this devastating storm. It’s going to be a tough time as we all make our way back to our homes, but we’ll all pull together. I just want to take this opportunity to send my best wishes to everyone at the KLM Open and I hope that it’s a great week for everyone involved. Hopefully I can tee it up there in 2018. For now, then, I’ll just update you on a few other items of news. First of all, thank you to everyone who took part in the latest Drive to SA Open fundraiser held last week at my first golf club, Kempton Park. I hear it was a wonderful day. Thank you to Emperors Palace, Concept Recoveries and Courtney Bam. Also Chantelle Bruyns, Mike Sebanz and all the staff at Kempton Park for being such great hosts. We really appreciate your support. On a different note, I want to say what an honor it was to receive the 2017 Heisman Humanitarian Award at a ceremony during an Els for Autism Golf Challenge event at Liberty National on Aug. 28. It’s wonderful to receive these awards, not because that’s what we’re chasing, but because it is a reflection on how far we’ve come and how much of an impact we’re starting to have in our mission to better the lives of autistic children. These awards validate what we’re doing and really, they’re a pat on the back for our dedicated team at Els for Autism. Obviously, my name is up-front, but the whole movement, and all the great work that’s been achieved since we established the Foundation in 2009, that’s down to my wife Liezl and her team. They are amazing. For more information on The Els Center of Excellence, click here.  That event at Liberty National was, as I said, part of this year’s Golf Challenge series. Once again, through the support of our partners, golfers and donors, it’s been a successful campaign. We’re almost at the end of the schedule and we now have one eye on the Grand Finale at the spectacular Breakers Resort in Florida later next month. It’s not too late to punch your ticket there, so visit if you’d like to take part. Of course, being at Liberty National a couple of weeks ago gave me a chance to get reacquainted with the host venue for this month’s Presidents Cup. As it happened, Branden Grace had kindly come along on the day to support Els for Autism, so he and I snuck out and played a few holes together. To be honest, it still feels a little weird for me to not be on the playing side, but at the same time it’s an honor to be part of Nick Price’s team. I’m there to help and motivate the guys and, whatever that entails, trust me I’ll do it. On that note, I’ll leave it there for now and write again in the build-up to the Presidents Cup. In the meantime, you can, of course, follow me on Twitter @TheBig_Easy.

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The youngest competitor in the PNC Championship's history also may be its most anticipated. Eleven-year-old Charlie Woods will make his debut in the annual exhibition alongside his father, who just happens to own 82 PGA TOUR victories. Snippets of Charlie's swing, shot by clandestine cameramen, have been shared on social media but the PNC will be the public's first opportunity to see his game on display. The PNC will allow fans to see another side of Woods, as well. He has largely shielded his children from the cameras, but all 36 holes of this week's event will be televised, allowing us to watch Tiger mentor his son the way Tiger's dad, Earl, did for him. Earl used to jangle change in his pocket and slam on cart brakes to develop his son's focus while standing over the ball. Now the son has become the father, deploying some of Earl's old tricks and some of his own, too. Woods has been teaching Charlie in South Florida, and at the Masters gushed about how much fun he's having. Jack Nicklaus, who knows a thing or two about being a golf dad, said Woods told him at the Champions' Dinner how he'd put Charlie in a set of blade irons because they are harder to hit and improve hand-eye coordination. "He says, ‘I’m having more fun out with Charlie and Sam, and watching them do different things and be vulnerable,'" Nicklaus said. Charlie has already shot under par for nine holes in competition and shares his father's love of the needle. His competitive side has generated bemused chatter. "For some reason, Charlie just always wants to beat me, it doesn’t matter what it is," Justin Thomas, a friend of the Woods family, said at the Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN last week. "Although he’s never beaten me in golf or a putting contest, he still talks trash just like his dad. "It will be fun," added Thomas, who also will make his PNC debut with dad Mike, a PGA professional. "We’ll have that like inner tournament within a tournament, trying to shut his little mouth up, but it will be fun." In an interview with GolfTV and Golf Digest, Woods confirmed Charlie's love of the needle, calling his son "a little on the chirpy side, just like I am." With the press, Woods has talked about wanting his kids to see him at his competitive best. He ticked that box when he won the 2019 Masters and embraced Charlie on the 18th green the way he and his father Earl had embraced in 1997. "To come full circle," he said, "from me being with my dad and seeing my son there and the same embrace, 22 years apart, pretty good bookends." Now, though, with Charlie taking on more competition, the focus is shifting. "Yeah, Tiger and I talked about it a bunch," Thomas said. "He brought it up a while ago that Charlie wanted to play, and Charlie really wanted to play with us. I’ve obviously gotten to know him well, and he knows my dad a little bit as well." Thomas admitted he'll probably be more nervous for his dad than for himself. The same will most likely be true for 82-time PGA TOUR winner Woods, who said that like many golfers, Charlie got more into the game during the pandemic. "Because everything was shut down, the only thing that was available to us was golf," Woods said. "He started to pick up golf, but this pandemic allowed us to play more golf and be with one another. And we just started playing a lot, and he started getting the bug for it, and so did I. It kept me competitive, kept me in it when we didn't have any tournaments. "But I had a tournament every day with him, and that was the fun part," he added. "Was just like me growing up with my dad." The PNC, which will use a scramble format for all 36 holes, starts Saturday and will air on NBC, Golf Channel and Peacock.

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Players on the PGA TOUR have enjoyed playing the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head, South Carolina, for a variety of reasons. The challenging, but fun golf course designed by Pete Dye and consultant Jack Nicklaus. The laid-back atmosphere, which is particularly inviting for those making the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Augusta after playing in the Masters the previous week during a normal TOUR season. Seafood, swimming and all those family-friendly activities, too. TOUR rookie Matt NeSmith had another reason for wanting to play in the RBC Heritage this season. Just over two years ago, in the shadow of the iconic red-and-white lighthouse at Harbour Town Golf Links, he proposed to Abigail Pait on the 18th green. She said, yes, of course, and the two were married on Nov. 1, 2019, during a break from his fourth and fifth tournaments as a card-carrying PGA TOUR member. Competing at the RBC Heritage this year – or any year, for that matter – would have been “awesome,â€� NeSmith says. “We’d be reminiscing about the whole day.â€� NeSmith was playing his best golf of the season when the coronavirus pandemic called an abrupt halt to play on the PGA TOUR, with this week’s previously scheduled RBC Heritage among the canceled tournaments. He’d made the cut in eight of his previous nine starts, posting top-15 finishes in three of those tournaments, and was ranked No. 64 in the FedExCup standings. It’s disappointing that he and his wife aren’t at Hilton Head this week, but the memories of that day and the start of their lives together offer warm feelings. He and Pait had met while both were students at the University of South Carolina. He played golf while she was on the equestrian team. Turns out, the two had a mutual friend in Will Starke, who was NeSmith’s roommate and teammate. Pait used to come over to the dorm and have breakfast with Starke each Friday. “I was sitting on the couch and she came over and said hello and we kind of talked a little bit,â€� NeSmith recalls. “I was very shy, always shy with pretty girls.â€� The two ran into each other later that day. Well, not exactly. Pait was behind the wheel of her car, and she spotted NeSmith walking on campus. “She’s very outgoing and I was a little bit shy and awkward to say at least, probably,â€� he recalls. “And she honked at me with all her friends in the car. She’s like, oh, there’s this nice guy that I just met in Will Starke’s dorm. … “I was like, oh, good Lord, and just kind of kept walking. So, she’s like, oh, I guess he’s just shy.â€� The romance blossomed, though, and endured after NeSmith graduated and turned pro. He played two seasons on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada before heading to the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2018-19 season. A win at the Albertsons Boise Open presented by Kraft Nabisco earned him a TOUR card. NeSmith and Pait fell in love with Hilton Head while he was still an amateur. During his college days, he was regularly on the leaderboard at the Players Amateur played at Berkeley Hall in nearby Bluffton. He won the event in 2015, firing a final-round 65 that enabled him to overtake Chase Koepka, who had started the final round with a five-stroke lead. NeSmith – and later, Pait – became close to his host family, the Andreolettis. “This family has three kids — the youngest one’s now eight .. and I’ve known the youngest one since she was a baby,â€� NeSmith says. “… We’d go down there three or four times a year and spend some time with them.â€� One of those times was the weekend of March 11, 2018. NeSmith had decided to propose. He had bought the engagement ring several months earlier and although he says he’s not the most creative guy in the world, he concocted a plan. “She had voiced that she wanted to go down for her birthday and just kind of hang out and be down there and have a good time,â€� he says. “So it just made sense.â€� First, NeSmith got a tee time at Harbour Town and invited Pait along. She enjoys riding in the cart with him when he goes out to play, which enables NeSmith to get some work in and “we can have some good quality time together,â€� he says. A friend was hiding in the bushes about 100 yards from the 18th green to take photographs when the couple arrived. He didn’t have a telescopic lens to capture the moment when NeSmith got down on one knee but that didn’t put a damper on the proposal. The champagne flowed at Bluffton when the couple returned to the Andreoletti home that afternoon, and they had another celebration after returning home to Aiken, South Carolina. The two were married 18 months later at an Augusta church where three other generations of his family have also said their vows, the first wedding held back in 1899. But Harbour Town and that scenic par 4 closing hole that meanders down the shore of the Cailbogue Sound always will hold a spot in their hearts, even if they need to wait another year. “I thought it’d be special for the both of us,â€� he says with a smile. “It was just a right time, right place kind of thing.â€�

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