Els admits to tough selection calls

International captain Ernie Els has revealed the difficulties he had when deciding who to choose as his Presidents Cup wildcards. Last week, four-time major winner Els confirmed Jason Day of Australia, Canadian Adam Hadwin, Sungjae Im of Korea and Joaquin Niemann of Chile as his four selections for the event at Royal Melbourne Golf Club. The 50-year-old, who played in the prestigious competition eight times, is aiming to guide the International Team to just their second success, with the sole victory coming back in 1998 at next month’s venue. On deciding his picks, Els, who will be teeing it up at the Nedbank in Sun City this week, admits it was hard leaving out the likes of Branden Grace and Erik van Rooyen. “It was a tough one. I didn’t enjoy it to be honest. There were many guys in there, especially a lot of my really close friends,” he was quoted as saying by sport24. “Branden Grace was right there and I went against him. So that was really tough for me to do. Erik van Rooyen started playing great. It was tough to do that, not getting him on the team.” South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen will be the only local representative in Els’ 12-man team, meaning this will be the first time since 1998 that South Africa only have one player competing in the event.