Ernie Els: three major putts, three tests of nerve

SportLocation Golf Desk · 5 Oct 2026

A montage of Ernie Els putting highlights links three major moments, from the 1997 US Open to the 2002 Open play-off.

A putt can be a small stroke with a tournament-sized weight behind it. This Ernie Els montage makes that tension its theme, moving between three moments it identifies as major highlights.

The sequence’s third-ranked entry is labelled “Congressional nerve” and dated to the 18th at the 1997 US Open. Els is bent over the putter, the ball waiting out to his left. There is no need for a grand gesture: the frame keeps the attention on the decision and the touch required to send the ball on its way.

Next comes “Lytham comeback”, marked as the 18th at The Open in 2012. A close-up of putter and ball gives way to Els on the green. The change in view puts the golfer back into the broader scene, but the focus remains the same: one stroke, with the hole as its destination.

The montage reserves its first place for “Playoff to Claret Jug”, labelled as sudden death at The Open in 2002. Els’s upward-looking reaction closes the sequence. Across all three, the hook is not a technical breakdown but the contrast between the stillness before a putt and the moment after it.