Ernie Els and Tiger Woods are two of golf’s great players and characters and the ‘Big Easy’ has got a message for the 15-time major winner ahead of the Senior PGA Championship.
Els is a four-time major winner having won the US Open and The Open twice, while he came agonisingly close to winning The Masters in both 2000 and 2004.
Nevertheless, at 55, Els is still playing out on the PGA Tour Champions and has even already won this year, having triumphed in Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
Of course, Els is used to playing on the senior tour now and with Tiger Woods set to be eligible shortly when he turns 50, Els has sent a firm message to Woods.
Ernie Els tells Tiger Woods why he should join the Champions Tour
Els was speaking to the media ahead of the Senior PGA Championship this weekend and was asked about the potential of Woods joining the Champions Tour.
And according to Els, it’s something Woods should definitely be considering as he approaches 50.
“Yeah, I think he should be. I think it would be good for everybody, for him included, obviously,” Els admitted.
“I think he doesn’t have to be shy not to be able to walk properly. We can use carts on our tour for most of the events. He can really get himself back in golf shape. Instead of playing two rounds here and a couple of rounds there, maybe get on a schedule again.
“It’s nice to have a schedule. It’s nice to know that you’re looking forward to practicing for a purpose, and obviously he’ll get his competitive fire back. With that kind of talent, you can probably have a chance here and there until he’s 60 to maybe even have a contention to maybe win a major.
“If Tom Watson could almost do it at, what was he, 59 — but it’s kind of dreaming. But just to get him back into competitive form, it would be great to see him on the Champions Tour.”
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What Tiger Woods has said about playing the PGA Tour Champions
We don’t know too much about Tiger Woods’ future plans but they clearly revolve around golf in some way, given his involvement in TGL and the future of the game with LIV and the PGA.
When it comes to the Champions TOUR, we don’t know if Woods will go and play there.
However, Pat Perez has shared a chat he had with Woods in the past, where the 15-time major winner suggested he’d love to win the Senior US Open.
“I hope he can stay healthy for a little bit longer, I’d love to see him get that 19th [major]. I think he’s going to get the 83rd [PGA Tour] win pretty soon. I think it would be within a year that he gets that 83rd win, this calendar year of ’20. But the 19 would be really unbelievable,” Perez said.
“I was actually talking about the Champ Tour, and I said would you ever think about playing? And he said, ‘there’s only one thing I want’, he goes, ‘I want that US Senior Open trophy’, because then he has them all. He has every USGA trophy. But think about that, that would be unbelievable to have the US Junior, US Am, US Open, Senior Open, which nobody has.”
Certainly, once Woods is back from his latest injury, it would be great to see him on the Champions Tour.
And as he says to Perez, winning that Senior US Open is a distinct possibility.
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