By Michael Vlismas.
There has probably been nobody more pleased with the Emirates Lions’ start to this Vodacom United Rugby Championship season than one of their most passionate supporters – Ernie Els.
So when Els’ beloved team reached out to him for a special golf favour on their recent tour of the United Kingdom, South Africa’s favourite golf son was only too pleased to help.
In the week leading up to their final tour match against Edinburgh, the Emirates Lions coaching staff thought it would be great to try and make the roughly one-hour trip to The Home of Golf in St Andrews and hopefully play a round on the famed Old Course. And what better than to have a former world number one and one of the most recognisable golfers on the planet ask for a tee time on your behalf.
“Our CEO, Rudolf Straeuli, knows Ernie very well, and the team also has a longstanding relationship with Ernie and the Els for Autism initiative through Nico van Rensburg in South Africa,” said scrum coach Julian Redelinghuys, who together with head coach Ivan van Rooyen, defence coach Jaque Fourie and forwards and lineouts coach Albert van den Berg made up the fourball.
“It was a fantastic experience. We were watching the weather closely because initially the forecast wasn’t great, but it turned out to be a perfect day. But we did experience links golf at its best with a bit of wind and weather. On the one par three of about 130 metres into the wind we all hit seven iron way short, then five iron and still short, and we ended up hitting hybrids and still didn’t reach the green,” said Redelinghuys.
“It was my first time playing the Old Course and I’ll never forget it. We are all so grateful to Ernie for making it possible for us. He is a passionate Emirates Lions fan and his support means the world to us as a team. He paid our team a visit a few years ago and there are still players that talk about the motivational speech he gave us that day. It’s really amazing for us to have such a giant of South African sport on our side.”
According to Redelinghuys, he and partner Fourie were given a bit of a links lesson by the duo of Van Rooyen and Van Den Berg. “I think coach Ivan shot 84 that day, and Albert made two birdies. So Jaque and I raised our bat so to speak. But it was great fun. We have such a special bond as a group of coaches and it shows in the whole team, with the players willing to play their hearts out for each other.”