Els had a disappointing 2001 season, failing to win a US PGA tour event for the first time since 1994 although he ended the year with nine second place finishes.

When he missed the cut by two strokes at the 2007 Masters Tournament, Els ended tour-leading consecutive cut streaks on both the PGA Tour and the European Tour.

On 8 November 2009, Els almost ended his year-long slump by shooting a course-tying record 9-under 63 in the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions to finish at 16-under par 272, a stroke back of Phil Mickelson who finished with a 17-under 271 total including a final round of 3-under 69.

* – British Open – Ernie Els wins his third major and first British Open.

In 1994 Els won his first major championship at the U. S. Open.

Els has finished runner-up to Woods more than any other golfer and has often been described as having the right game to finally be the golfer to beat Woods in a major.

Els earned $ 1, 405, 890 for the major win, and among other benefits, exemptions for five years to the other three majors.

Els has now won major tournaments in three different decades, joining his countryman Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Billy Casper and other all-time greats.

:* April-The Masters Tournament-Vijay Singh won his second major title in six events, playing steady golf to hold off the challenges of Ernie Els and David Duval.

Ernie Els finishes a distant second-his third runner-up finish in a major of the season, although Els has taken 23 more shots than Woods at the two Opens.

Ernie Els plays brilliantly given the conditions to record a 72, and wins after a 4-man playoff, the first in major championship history, involving Steve Elkington, Stuart Appleby and Frenchman Thomas Levet.

* July 18-Todd Hamilton wins The Open at Royal Troon, surprising many by beating Ernie Els in a playoff for the title, from a final-day leaderboard that also included recent major champions Mickelson, Goosen, Woods, and Mike Weir.

He has also worked with other major champions such as Ernie Els, Stewart Cink, Greg Norman, Davis Love III, Fred Couples and Justin Leonard, and with younger stars such as Nick Watney, Adam Scott, Dustin Johnson, Natalie Gulbis, and most recently Gary Woodland.

To top off the season Els won the World Match Play title for a record tying fifth time.

Despite missing several months of the 2005 season due to the injury, Els won the second event on his return, the Dunhill Championship.

At the start of the 2007 season Ernie Els laid out a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world number one.

Els had a poor season in 2011, dropping out of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since 1993.

Els started the 2012 season in his home country at the Volvo Golf Champions where he finished in a tie for second place after he and Retief Goosen lost out in a playoff to Branden Grace.

The daily soap opera El Cor de la Ciutat is the most watched fiction program in Catalonia, especially among the female audience, drawing around 28-33 % of the audience with as much as 40 % on season finales, followed by political satire program Polònia, with a share of about 28 % Morning talk show Els Matins gets around 22 % share, while El Club around 22 % share.

Winning all three titles in the same season is a feat only achieved by Bobby Locke, Gary Player and Ernie Els.

At the end of the 2004 season, Stosur reached the doubles final in Québec City, partnered with Els Callens from Belgium.

Els was tied with Colin Montgomerie and Loren Roberts after 72 holes and they went to a 18 hole playoff the next day.

Els finished the year with a win at his home tournament at the South African Open.

1998 and 1999 continued to be successful years for Els with 4 wins on both the PGA and European tours.

2000 started in historic fashion for Els being given a special honour by the Board of Directors of the European Tour awarding him with honorary life membership of the European Tour because of his two U. S. Opens and three World Match Play titles.

2000 was the year of runner ups for Els ; with three runner up finishes in the Majors ( Masters, U. S. Open and The Open Championship ) and seven second place finishes in tournaments worldwide.

Els showed amazing consistency in the Majors but lost to Phil Mickelson in the Masters when Mickelson birdied the 18th for the title, finished ninth in the U. S. Open after playing in the final group with friend and fellow countryman Retief Goosen and surprisingly losing in a playoff in the Open to the then unknown Todd Hamilton.

In July 2005, Els injured his left knee while sailing with his family in the Mediterranean.

On 8 April 2008, Els officially announced that he was switching swing coaches from David Leadbetter ( whom Els had worked with since 1990 ) to Butch Harmon who has revamped the golf swings of many established pros ( which started with Greg Norman ).

Adam Scott led by four shots after a birdie at the 14th hole, but bogeyed the final four holes to miss a playoff with Els by one stroke.

This has caused some friction with the PGA Tour, an organization that would prefer Els to play more tournaments in the United States.

The couple has also established the Els Center of Excellence, which began as a drive to build a new campus for the aforementioned school but has since mushroomed into a $ 30 million plan to combine the school with a research facility.

He shot 78 to trail the 74s shot by Els and Roberts, with Els winning at the 20th extra hole.

In 1965, while singing in a radio show called Radioscope, host Salvador Escamilla helped him secure a record deal with local label Edigsa, where he recorded his first LP, as well as joining the group Els Setze Jutges.

# Els de Groen, with 4796 votes

* Els de Groen, with 4796 votes

The company also produces sports related items such as figurines and die-cast on top of having exclusive agreements to produce memorabilia ( under the brand name Upper Deck Authenticated ) with such sports superstars as Michael Jordan, Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, LeBron James, Kevin Garnett, Andrew Bynum, Ernie Els, Albert Pujols, Grady Sizemore, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Sandy Koufax and Ken Griffey Jr.

Els nearly won the World Match Play Championship for a fourth consecutive year, but lost to Vijay Singh in the final.

In total Els had 16 top 10 finishes, a second European Order of Merit title in succession and a second place finish on the United States money list.

Els is also responsible for the refinement and modernisation of the West Course, Wentworth-Virginia Water, England, which took place in 2006.

He was the architect of the Casa Martí ( also known as " Els Quatre Gats "), which became a place of ideas, projects and social gatherings for such well-known Catalans as Santiago Rusiñol and Ramon Casas.