Ernie Els (born October 17, 1969) is a professional golf player from South Africa. He began to play golf at age 9, but was also actively involved with a number of other sports including tennis, cricket, soccer and rugby at a young age. He became an accomplished junior tennis player at age 13 by winning the Eastern Transvall Junior Championships. In the following year, Els turned his full attention to golf. At 6 feet 3 inches, he is known as 'The Big Easy' and commands a fluid, effortless golf swing.

Throughout his professional golf career, Els had 65 victories including four major championships: the 1994 and 1997 U.S. Open, and the 2002 and 2012 Open Championship. At age 42, he became only the sixth player to win the U.S. Open and British Open twice. The others are Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Walter Hagen, Bobby Jones and Lee Trevino.