GREENSBORO, N.C. – World Golf Hall of Famer Ernie Els will play the 2016 Wyndham Championship, the tournament announced today. The 77th annual Wyndham Championship is set for Aug. 15-21, 2016 at Sedgefield Country Club.
Els joins 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker, former Wyndham winner Brandt Snedeker, Wake Forest alumnus Bill Haas, U.S. Open champions Webb Simpson, Retief Goosen, Graeme McDowell, Jim Furyk, Angel Cabrera and Lucas Glover, PGA Championship winners Jason Dufner and David Toms, Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Kisner, Kevin Na, William McGirt, World Golf Hall of Famer Vijay Singh, Open Championship winners Justin Leonard and Stewart Cink, former Wyndham winners Ryan Moore, Carl Pettersson, Camilo Villegas and Arjun Atwal, Scott Piercy, Harris English as well as Spanish stars Rafael Cabrera Bello and Jon Rahm in the field.
Els is a four-time major winner having won the U.S. Open in 1994 and ’97 and the Open Championship in 2002 and ’12; he has 19 PGA TOUR wins and 47 international wins. He finished fifth at the Quicken Loans National in June for his best finish of the season to date. He has played in eight President’s Cup matches, nine Dunhill Cup matches and five World Cup matches. A native of South Africa, Els is a member of the 2011 World Golf Hall of Fame class. Els will make his sixth Wyndham Championship appearance; his best result here came in 1997 when he finished tied for seventh. While he is 158th in the current FedExCup point standings, two of his rounds at the Travelers Championship last weekend make him optimistic about the Wyndham.
“I was pleased with a lot of my play last week,” Els said today on his website blog. “In particular, the pair of 67s on Friday and Sunday showed me more of the consistency that I’ve been working so hard to achieve, with lots of quality shots and fewer mistakes. We just need to keep building on that, stay patient and trust that the results will come. I believe they will.
“And next week’s Wyndham Championship, which is my last chance to make it into the FedExCup Playoffs, would obviously be a good time. It’s going to require a win or a runner-up spot to guarantee me a spot inside the top 125 on the points list, or maybe a third place, but that would be cutting it very tight. Still, I can’t allow my mind to be distracted. I have to stay focused on just playing golf. As I said, my game is in good enough shape to take care of business there in North Carolina.”
About the Wyndham Championship:
Contested annually on the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., the Wyndham Championship was founded in 1938 and is the sixth-oldest event on the PGA TOUR excluding the Majors. Tickets are available at http://wyndhamchampionship.com or through the tournament office at (336) 379-1570. The tournament thanks title sponsor Wyndham Worldwide, presenting sponsor BB&T and Premier Partners, Cadillac, Harris Teeter, Lincoln Financial, McConnell Golf, Sunbrella®, Technology Concepts & Design, Inc. and VF Corporation for their continued support. Additional tournament information and sponsorship information are available at www.wyndhamchampionship.com. For more information about Wyndham Worldwide, please visit www.wyndhamworldwide.com. Stay connected with the Wyndham Championship through its social media channels, including the Wyndham Championship Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Flickr and YouTube.
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