DORAL, Fla. – Ernie Els, who used an Odyssey belly putter to win the 2012 Open Championship, took a verbal shot at the U.S. Golf Association today here at the WCG-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral near Miami.
Ernie Els
“They don’t want any more belly putter players winning major championships, I don’t believe,” Els said. “I think that’s the real issue.”
Els became the third player with a belly putter or long putter to win a major championship in two years with his victory at last year’s Open. Keegan Bradley won the 2011 PGA Championship and Webb Simpson won the 2012 U.S. Open.
A two-time winner at Doral, Els has been steady in his opposition to the USGA/R&A proposed ban on players anchoring belly putters and long putters against their bodies.
“Obviously winning a major with a belly putter, you’re going to have to support that cause,” Els said. “Els said. “When it’s been allowed for such a long time, I just feel, why ban it? You had the chance to do that They allow certain things, and then they want to pull back on it. There was a square groove rule, the big and the small golf ball, there’s the driver and the sand iron from a 56 to a 60, and we can talk about hybrid clubs. All these changes have come through in the game
“If a guy can’t drive the ball really well, there’s a driver that he can get made. If you can’t hit an iron up in the air, you’re going to get a hybrid made up for you. That’s legal. If you’re not a good chipper, you can go to 64, 62, 60, whatever degree. There used to be a rule where 56 degrees was the limit, so they changed that. The game’s evolved that way.”
