WASHINGTON: Ernie Els went to Washington to try to win another senior major and wound up in the White House on Wednesday at the invitation of South Africa’s president, who is pushing back against President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of systematic killing of white farmers in the country.
Els and Retief Goosen, both Hall of Fame players who have combined to win six US Open titles, were part of the delegation with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Trump had already cut all US assistance to South Africa and welcomed several dozen white South African farmers to the US as refugees as he pressed the case that a “genocide” is underway in the country.
He has launched a series of accusations at South Africa’s Black-led government, claiming it is seizing land from white farmers, enforcing anti-white policies and pursuing an anti-American foreign policy.
Experts in South Africa say there is no evidence of whites being targeted for their race, although farmers of all races are victims of violent home invasions in a country that suffers from a very high crime rate.
Trump, who developed high-end golf courses before entering politics, is at ease among some of the game’s greats from Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods. He first played golf with Els, who lives in south Florida, eight years ago.
“When I spoke to you, you said, ‘Yes, come along and bring Gary Player and Ernie Els and Retief Goosen.’ I brought the two of them,” Ramaphosa said.
He said he spoke with Player, who turns 90 in November, and Player said he was getting in on years but wished them luck in the discussion. Trump awarded Player the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Jan. 7, 2021, one day after pro-Trump rioters attacked the White House.
“We’re proud South Africans,” Els said when Trump asked him to speak. “We want to see things get better in our home country. That’s the bottom line. It’s been 35 years since the transition (from apartheid).
“I know there’s a lot of anger through the transition, a lot of stuff happening in apartheid days. We grew up in the apartheid era. But I don’t think two wrongs make a right.”
Els said Nelson Mandela “didn’t come out with hatred” when he was freed after 27 years in prison, instead working to unify South Africa through sport after being elected president in 1994. He cited the World Cup of Rugby in 1995, winning the African Nations in soccer and a few golf majors.
Els won four majors, two each at the US Open and British Open. Goosen, who recovered from being struck by lightning, won two US Opens.
Both were in Washington for the Senior PGA Championship, which starts Thursday at Congressional Country Club across the Potomac River in Bethesda, Maryland.
“What I’m trying to say is this has been a long time coming. That’s why we really wanted to meet you and see our way forward,” Els said. “We still want to see our country flourish. ... There’s a lot of co-existence going on, but we need the US to push this thing through.”
Goosen, whose father was a property developer and a part-time farmer, grew up in what now is Polokwane. He said his brother is still running the farm but “it’s a constant battle with ... them trying to burn the farm down to chase you away.”
“It is a concern to try to make a living as a farmer,” he said.
Els, known as the “Big Easy” for his fluid swing, first played golf with Trump in 2017 during his first term in office.
“We didn’t talk politics because I’m not a man who can cast a vote,” Els told The Associated Press that year. “Whether you agree or not, I felt it was a duty to play with the president when you get the call. It’s basically honoring what the United States has done for me and my family.”
