Ernie Els speaks

So Ernie Els is giving fans a pretty good sense of what happened and the degree of seriousness of the knee injury that shut down his year last week.
"Basically, I injured my knee while I was on a sailing holiday with the family in the Mediterranean last week and, having undergone surgery on Thursday, I’m going to have to take a break from golf on the recommendation of my medical advisers," Els said on his website. "As I was saying last week, it’s the only sensible course of action, so that I can be sure of a prompt and full recovery. Obviously the timing is unfortunate. Although let’s face it, there’s no such thing as a good time to get injured. But what can you do?"
The injury sounds nasty -- a rupture of his ACL -- and though doctors expect him to hit balls within a couple of months, one has to wonder whether this could be more serious than anyone is letting on. Then again, this isn't basketball we are talking about and as long as Els can walk 18, he should be fine. Time will tell.