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Ernie Els calls infamous missed putt 'the perfect yip stroke you've ever seen'
Ernie Els had the dubious distinction of going viral via a video of his ugly miss of what should have been a tap-in in the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Thursday. Golf Digest's Joel Beall called it the worst putt of all time.
On Saturday, after shooting a 66 and moving into a tie for eighth at the Dunhill Links, Els graciously addressed the putt, calling it “the perfect yip stroke you’ve ever seen in your life.”
“I made an adjustment, obviously,” he said regarding his move up the leaderboard. “The putter I used on Thursday is a longer putter. It has the counterweight. It’s got weight in the grip and weight in the head. I was a little bit jumpy, to be honest with you. I don’t even want to see it. I knew what it felt like. It was a disaster. So I went to my other putter, a shorter putter, a 35-inch putter and all the weight’s in the head. I feel I can get the putter head through to the hole easier. The other one didn’t want to move past the ball.
“Anybody’s ever seen the yips, obviously that was the perfect yip stroke you’ve ever seen in your life. It is what it is. The game of golf you’ve got to do some silly things when you play long enough. Obviously I had my moment there. Hopefully I won’t have too many of those again, because you can’t play golf like that.”
Here is video of the interview: