In the Mood for Macau

Ernie Els Q&A

Can you talk about your experience at the Venetian Macau Open last year?

We had a great time. We flew in quite late because we had a tournament in Las Vegas, but I played the Pro-Am there and had a great time at the event. I think it’s an old-style golf course that is in very good shape and the greens got quite fast over the weekend. I played with Scott Hend in the last few rounds, he beat me squarely and fairly, I ended up third in the end, but I really had a good time.

The fans, the people were wonderful. We had a few wonderful dinners at the Venetian Macao Resort. I had some good steak there, couple of good bottles of red. We just had a wonderful time. I think the whole field of golfers had a great time. I didn’t do too much gambling but I was at the pool at the resort. I was actually quite blown away by the scale of the resort and the rooms are all en-suite. I’ve been to a lot of places but The Venetian really blew me away, so I really wanted to come back. We struck a deal with them, so you will be seeing me in the next couple of years playing at the event. I am really excited about it.

Your deal with the Venetian - what initiatives are you going to be working on with them?

Well, it’s mainly to promote the resort to the world. And really to work with the golf tournament and with IMG to promote the Venetian Macau Open to the world, to do as much as I can. I am an Asian Tour Ambassador also, so it makes a lot of sense to play in Asia every year and try to promote the Tour. I think it is a wonderful company, so we will be doing a lot of work in this one [2014 event] with the Venetian Macao to promote the resort to worldwide audience.

Joining you in the field in Macau will be the EurAsia Cup captains, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Thongchai Jaidee, which makes this arguably the strongest Macau Open field of all time …

Well, at least they are close to my age so we have a lot of experience. I have known Thongchai for a very long time, over 20 years. I have known Miguel for an even longer time, so they are very good friends of mine. We have played all around the world and they are both great champions. Miguel Angel is a legend on the European Tour, he has won so many events – he has won the Hong Kong Open four times! He is a very popular man in the region, and he brings a lot to the tournament. He is a very interesting guy, he loves his life, cigars and red wine. I think for the event, Miguel is the perfect guy to bring and Thongchai, with his Asian Tour roots, is another great attraction. I think the tournament has done really well getting these kinds of players, and I know they will play well because they are good competitors, they want to win. I think they will be a great force for the tournament.

Jiménez has been is tremendous form over the past 12 months, breaking the record of being the oldest winner on the European Tour and playing really well at the EurAsia Cup. What do you think is his secret to success?

It’s just his love for the game, he does everything well; he has got a great passion in the game. He is quite relaxed about his lifestyle and so on. He just got married again so he deserves a great time playing golf. He does not put a lot of pressure on himself and he enjoys himself, so I think he gets the best out of the game that way.