THE SENIOR OPEN PRESENTED BY ROLEX

July 23, 2021

Ernie Els

Sunningdale Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Pair of 67s for 6-under par, how much different was the second round?

ERNIE ELS: It was a little bit more difficult today, a little tricky. The wind, you didn't really know where it was coming from. A bit of swirl going on. But really dug in there a little bit at the end to try and salvage 67. I did hit some really good shots today. I feel like what I'm working on is kind of coming through a little bit. But Darren is a great frontrunner, played really well today, so got a lot of work to do.

Q. You showed some old school up-and-downs. How nice is it to come to a place like this where you can play those shots?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, there's a lot of kind of linksy shots you have to play and a lot of parkland shots you have to play, so this is a great blend in Sunningdale. But the old trees take a lot of moisture out of the ground, so there was going to be a lot of bounce and went with with a 5-iron and played a linksy shot and made the putt.

Q. When do you start thinking about winning during a tournament?

ERNIE ELS: Hopefully on the last putt. I'm just trying to stay in it. I haven't quite got my old game there, so I'm really fighting hard to stay in it. Darren seems like he's striking it nice. I'm trying to stay in touch with him. Stay there until Sunday afternoon and then whatever happens, hopefully Sunday I can think about that but not right now.