Topped the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times. He is the leading career money winner on the European Tour, and was the first member of the tour to earn over 25 million Euros from European Tour events.
He played rugby union, cricket, tennis, and, starting at age 8, golf. He was a skilled junior tennis player and won the Eastern Transvaal Junior Championships at age 13.
Els was elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2010, on his first time on the ballot, and was inducted in May 2011.
Won the U.S. Open in 1994 at the Oakmont Country Club, the 1997 Open at the Congressional Country Club and The Open Championship in 2002 at Muirfield.