head case: big easy
Is Ernie Els the biggest head case? Here’s a report from The Golf Channel that Ernie’s Belgian “motivator” Jos Vanstiphout gave him a “pep talk” before his 1st round last weekend and really screwed him up. Ernie shot 74. Ernie eventually won the tournament, but no thanks to Jos.
Here’s what Ernie said about the “pep talk”: “He is supposed to give me encouragement, not what he gave me. It’s supposed to be 10 minutes of good stuff before I play, but that was 12 minutes of the most ridiculous stuff I’ve ever thought of. I don’t know what went through his head.”
But, even after that debacle, Ernie still hasn’t fired Jos. This is the same Jos that Retief Goosen did dump. What’s the Big Easy need a “motivator” for anyway?
UPDATE: Ernie explains his relationship with Jos on his website. Apparently, Ernie’s fired Jos once already. They definitely have a weird relationship. Here’s what Jos says about Ernie:
Vanstiphout said Els would not admit it at first, but the South African had a phobia about Woods.
“It was. I called it ‘Tigeritis’. It’s something that creeps into your mind. You get your butt beaten once and you finish second and you get beaten another time and another time and you lose your self-confidence and you start believing that he’s unbeatable. But excuse me, Tiger is good, but Tiger is not God. He’s not.”
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