Defending champ Ernie Els leads heading into championship Sunday at Hoag Classic golf tournament
It may be half a world away from where he grew up in South Africa, but Ernie Els feels right at home in Newport Beach.
That much is clear to those who have seen his play at the Hoag Classic golf tournament at Newport Beach Country Club.
“The topography, the vegetation around here is very much like Johannesburg and South Africa,” Els said after Saturday’s round. “We’ve got these trees, eucalyptus trees, kikuyu [grass] fairways. This could be in a neighborhood in Johannesburg somewhere, where I grew up.”
Els, who won the Hoag Classic the last time it was played in 2020, has a good chance to become the tournament’s first repeat champion on Sunday. He leads by a stroke headed into the final round of the PGA Tour Champions event, after he and the other golfers battled a cold Saturday featuring 20- to 25-mile-per-hour winds.
Els sits at eight-under par after firing a three-under round of 68 on Saturday. Retief Goosen, Lee Janzen and first-round leader Cameron Beckman are all a stroke back at seven-under.
K.J. Choi and David Toms are tied for fifth at six-under.
The average round Saturday was 72.42 on the par-71 course, up nearly two full strokes from Friday. But Els, 52, still heated up on the back nine in the difficult conditions.
He birdied four of his final seven holes. Els rebounded from a bogey on No. 17 to get on the green in two shots on par-five No. 18, then sank the birdie putt to move into the outright lead.
“The putting was difficult to get the right speed, the lines, but then you’ve got to play the wind into the line on the green,” Els said. “I mean, that doesn’t happen too often. It happens a lot in Scotland, but not in California. The wind was blowing. Yeah, the whole experience was a difficult day today. To get it under par for the day was kind of my goal and surprisingly I’m on top of the leaderboard ... we’ve got a chance for tomorrow.”
Goosen started off his round red-hot Saturday, birdieing his first four holes to move into a first-place tie with Beckman at the time. He ended up shooting even-par for the rest of the round, but that was good enough to remain in solid contention headed into Sunday.
“The first few holes I suppose [the wind] was playing sort of left to right down, so you could make birdies,” Goosen said. “Then I hit a poor six-iron on 8, made a poor chip shot, made bogey, and a three-putt on 9, so that stopped the momentum up a bit ... The putter got a little cold coming in, just couldn’t birdie the par-fives and missed a silly little one on the last. But we’re in the hunt for tomorrow and that’s what you want.”
Janzen, who shot a five-under round of 66 that was best of the day, complimented the Newport Beach Country Club staff for getting the course in playable condition. His round included three birdies on both the front nine and back nine, and just one bogey.
“I have had some good success under tough conditions,” he said. “It doesn’t mean I want to play under these conditions all the time, but today was good. I had really good control of my flight and trajectory and shots today.”
Beckman, who shot even-par 71 on Saturday, battled a tough back nine that could have been tougher if not for some nice par saves. Still, his back nine included three bogeys, and just one birdie on No. 18.
“You’re just battling all day,” Beckman said, calling the conditions “brutal.” “Really, today the par putts are birdie putts, you know what I’m saying? I made a lot of nice par putts, just grinding it out.”
Sunday’s weather forecast calls for slightly warmer conditions and less wind. Els, Janzen and Goosen make up the final group, which is scheduled to tee off from No. 1 at 11:20 a.m.
It’s Student Day, with students ages 18 and under receiving complimentary admission.
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