Ernie Els Receives 2018 Masters Exemption, Maybe?

Ernie Els is a fan favorite on the PGA TOUR but hasn’t had the best of luck the past few years. It seems that age has begun to catch up to the Big Easy, as he hasn’t won a professional tournament since 2014 and hasn’t won a major since 2012.

That 2012 major victory that he recorded at the Open Championship earned Ernie an exemption to play at the Masters for five years.

Well if you do the math, that five-year exemption expired this season and Els hasn’t done enough to this point to qualify for a 2018 Masters appearance. But Els left fans excited on Christmas Eve when he alluded to the fact that he had been granted an exemption to play from Augusta Golf Club in a tweet.

That would be a heck of a Christmas present for one of the nicest men in golf but it may not be what it appears.

Thank you for a Great Xmas present! @TheMasters Can't wait!

— Ernie Els (@TheBig_Easy) December 24, 2017

Apparently, Els did receive an invite to the 2018 Masters but not an exemption. Instead, Els will be an honorary invitee to the event. Augusta Chairman Fred Ridley confirmed this news, stating that “The inclusion of Honorary Invitees has been a great tradition at the Masters Tournament for many years. This coming year the list includes Ernie Els, and we are once again excited to welcome him and all of these distinguished guests to Augusta National in April.”

Despite not being invited to compete in the actual event, Els says that he is still working to qualify for the event without a special exemption. And he is certainly capable of getting the job done, as he has been a runner-up at Augusta twice and is still in the top 600 golfers in the world.

A few strong finishes and a win could push Ernie back into qualification.

A post shared by Ernie Els (@ernieelsgolf) on Aug 16, 2017 at 6:27am PDT

For those still holding out for a special exemption, the chances of receiving one appear highly unlikely as the last player to be granted such a gift was Ryo Ishikawa in 2013.

So we can only hope that the Big Easy is able to qualify on his own because no tournament is the same without Ernie Els in it.

Cover Photo via Instagram