Ernie Els's nephew moves closer to place at the Masters
Ernie Els’s nephew is just three steps away from a place at the Masters, the major which famously eluded the graceful South African.
Jovan Rebula upheld family honour by progressing to the quarter-finals of the Amateur Championship at Royal Aberdeen.
Rebula, who is the son of Els’s sister, Carina, survived a tense encounter with Yorkshire’s Ben Hutchinson before prevailing on the 18th.
This morning, Rebula, who is in college in Alabama, plays Tom Sloman and once again the confident 21-year-old will feed off the influence of the Big Easy, as he targets all the perks that come with this historic trophy, including berths at Augusta and at next month’s Open Championship.
“He’s done a lot for me over my career,” Rebula said. “We’ve got a very good relationship. It’s always special to have someone like that you can talk to who’s been in way bigger moments than this.”
Sloman will provide stern opposition. He was the underdog against 18-year-old South African Wilco Nienaber, who topped the strokeplay section, but the English international from Somerset battled back from one-down with five to play to prevail on the 18th.
Should Sloman come through the Rebula test then he could face Mitch Waite - another West Countryman playing out of Filton Golf Club in Bristol - in the afternoon semi-final.
Waite was four up with four to play against Germany’s Timo Vahlenkamp and seemed to be cruising into a showdown with the Swede Christoffer Palsson.
But Waite saw his lead disappear and was taken to sudden death. However, a par on the first saw a very relieved Waite scrape through.
There are also three Irishmen still standing in this marathon tournament, which featured 288 players going out in the 36-hole strokeplay stages, with 64 players plus ties going through to the knockout matchplay. Conor Purcell, Robin Dawson and John Murphy are in the last eight, hoping to emulate Alan Dunbar, the only Irish winner in the last 17 years.
Meanwhile, Tommy Fleetwood showed the effects of finishing second in last week’s US Open in New York, by carding a sluggish opening two-over 74 in the first round of the BMW International in Germany. That is six off the pace set by France’s Sebastien Gros, with Scotland’s Scott Jamieson in a group in second on three-under.
Meanwhile, Rory Mcilroy bounced back from last week's US Open missed cut with a six-under 64 in the first round of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut which left him one off the pace set by Jordan Spieth and Zach Johnson.
