PGA TOUR NEWS:FOR THE first time in four years, Ernie Els will be a conspicuous absentee from the US PGA Tour's season-opening events in Hawaii as he prepares instead to launch his 2012 campaign in his native South Africa.
Els failed to qualify for this week’s winners-only Hyundai Tournament of Champions on the Hawaiian island of Maui and he has opted to skip the Sony Open which takes place on Oahu the following week.
A former winner of both PGA Tour events in Hawaii, the three-times major champion will make his season’s debut at the European Tour’s Volvo Golf Champions, to be played from January 19th-22nd at Fancourt in George, South Africa.
Els, who has not triumphed on the PGA Tour since the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational, will enjoy home comforts during the Volvo Golf Champions as the event is being staged close to his South African base in Herold’s Bay.
“(It) is literally just down the road, so I don’t even have to pack my bags for that one,” he said. “I can sleep in my own bed.”
Els been a globe-trotting playing professional since 1992.
After the Volvo Golf Champions, Els will switch his focus to the PGA Tour where he plans to compete in the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego from January 26th-29th and the February 16th-19th Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles.
