Ernie Els: Glad to be out of U.S. Open ‘torture chamber’

The numbers say it all.

Last weekend, Ernie Els limped away from the U.S. with a hard-fought 5-over. On Thursday, he started the BMW International Open in Munich with a 9-under par 63, one stroke shy of the course record.

“Today was like walking out of the torture chamber that was last week’s U.S. Open,” he said, “and walking onto a nice parkland golf course.”

Els wasn’t the only one to enjoy the surroundings at Golfclub Munchen Eichenried. While par would have won at Merion, Craig Lee shot that score in Germany on Thursday and found himself tied for 100th place.

Martin Kaymer, who was 19-over at the Open, finished the first round at 8-under.

“Yeah, U.S. Open, you just try to hold on, pretty much from Thursday morning until Sunday afternoon,” he said. “Here is a little bit chasing.”

Justin Rose won at Merion with a score of 1-over, capturing his first major on a course that had competitors on a rollercoaster ride, bouncing between bogeys, pars and birdies.

One of the biggest differences this week? The greens have been kinder and golfers have not been penalized as greatly for missing fairways. So Dustin Johnson, who was 17-over last week, came in tied for ninth at 6-under.

“The rough’s fine,” he said. “I’ve got no problem hitting out of the rough here.”

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