Travels send Els across 8 time zones
Ernie Els chuckled at the suggestion.
In the midst of what many would consider an insane travel itinerary, which is taking him across the Atlantic twice in the span of eight days with golf tournaments three weeks in a row in time zones covering eight hours, "Big Easy" is dealing with a trip that is anything but.
Someone wondered whether Heinekens might do the trick.
"Well, I can't recover so good anymore," Els said, smiling. "I'll give the Heinekens a week off."
A good idea, but one probably not so easy to follow for Els as he spends this weekend with his father, Nils, at the home of golf in Scotland, playing in a European Tour event called the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Els, a South African who has homes in London, the Bahamas and Jupiter, Fla., has made a career of crisscrossing the globe to tee it up in golf tournaments.
But this itinerary makes you tired just thinking about it.
After playing four of the past five weeks in the FedEx Cup playoff events on the PGA Tour (including a ninth-place finish at the Tour Championship this past Sunday), Els left from Atlanta for St. Andrews, Scotland, and the European Tour event, which concludes this Sunday.
Afterward, he'll hop on the plane again and head west through eight time zones, arriving in San Francisco for next week's Presidents Cup, where he is a member of the international team that will take on the Americans in a Ryder Cup-style format.
"I've got a G-V," Els said of the aircraft he has the luxury of using. "It flies straight in. I don't have to stop anywhere, so I sleep. And from there back to San Francisco, I'll sleep. I'll do a lot of sleeping, a lot of resting. It's just the time change; that's all."
That's all?
Els and his entourage boarded his G-V at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Sunday night and were scheduled to depart at 9 p.m. ET. They would have left earlier, but the Leuchars Airport near St. Andrews does not open nor allow landings before 8 a.m. U.K. time.
The journey from Atlanta was scheduled to take just more than 6 hours, leaving at 2 a.m. U.K. time -- almost perfect.
But once Els arrived in St. Andrews, it wasn't as if he could lounge around all day and shake off the jet leg.
He had what's called a "company day" scheduled for Monday at the Fairmont St. Andrews for an outing with one of his biggest sponsors, SAP. Then it was back to the Old Course hotel, where Els at least could enjoy some of the creature comforts often missing in the U.K.
Why do this?
Els obviously was going to take part in the FedEx Cup playoffs, if eligible. And he was going to play in the Presidents Cup. Why not take the week off in between in, say, the Bahamas -- where Els often retreats to avoid spending too many days in the U.S. due to tax laws?
"The tournament has been so dear to myself and my dad," Els said of the Dunhill Links. "We've played it ever since they changed the format [in 2001]. Except last year, we made the cut until the fourth day every time. So it's a great time for me and my dad to be together at the home of golf.
"A great friend of mine [Johan Rupert] is sponsoring the tournament, running the tournament. So for me, I get to see my friends. I know it's a long way to fly. It's one of my good weeks of the year, believe it or not. I kind of relax with my dad, and we don't get enough time through the year."
The Dunhill Links is much like the PGA Tour's Pebble Beach Pro-Am. A pro has an amateur partner for three days and rotates rounds among three courses before a 54-hole cut. The tournament is played over three classic links courses -- the Old Course and Carnoustie, both home to the Open Championship -- and Kingsbarns, a modern links that sits just outside the town of St. Andrews.
Padraig Harrington, who played all four FedEx Cup events and headed home to Ireland after Chicago and then back to Atlanta -- also is playing the Dunhill this weekend.
But at least when it's over, he has a short hop home to Dublin. He won't be going all the way to San Francisco.
"At least he has his own jet," Harrington said of Els. "This is what we do. We're professional golfers. It's part of life."
Ah, the jet.
The Gulfstream G550 has a listed price of $46 million. Els likely did not pay that much. In fact, he used to have a G-IV -- a smaller version -- that he traded in for this model. He also typically leases the plane when it is not in use, to help defray the enormous costs of operation.
The plane can seat up to 19 people, but Els' is configured with pull-out beds, satellite TV and -- soon to come -- wireless internet.
"It's nice," said former PGA Championship winner Shaun Micheel, who once caught a ride with Els from Scotland back to the U.S. "It makes life a lot easier, I'm sure. As much as he travels, he needs something like that, really, to get around. Dealing with security is probably the biggest barrier to traveling commercially now. The customs people came right on the plane, and I didn't have to sign any papers. It was a nice way to go."
Still, when Els gets to San Francisco next week, you wonder whether he'll be able to keep the time -- and his body -- straight.
"It's going to be a long flight," he said. "But that's why we've got to plan."
It doesn't really include any Heinekens, does it?
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
Locker Room Report
• Locker Room Report: MMA: Name calling
• Locker Room Report: Beilein breakdown
• Locker Room Report: Time travel: Ernie Els
• Locker Room Report: Minnesota's high-tech
