Ernie Els came within an ace of a hole-in-one on Thursday as he carded a five-under-par 67 in the first round of the PGA Tour Champions Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai Golf Course in Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.
Els nearly holed his tee-shot on the 17th as he started the new season with a fast finish: He went one-under on the front nine, with three birdies and two bogeys, but he was blemish-free on the back nine with an eagle and two birdies. He was in a share of fifth, two strokes off the lead which was shared by Ricardo Gonzalez of Argentina and Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez.
The leaders were one clear of Stephen Ames of Canada and Germany’s Alex Cejka. Els shared fifth with Americans Brett Quigley, Tim O’Neal and Joe Durant, and with fellow former world number one, Vijay Singh of Fiji.
Els’ tee-shot just curled away from the hole over the last foot on the 17th and he had a one-footer for his only birdie on the par-threes for the day. On the par-five 14th, he hit his approach to about 22 feet, and made the curling right-to-left putt for his eagle.
Retief Goosen opened with a one-under-par 71 for a share of 24th.
