Other highlights in Els's career include topping the 2003 and 2004 European Tour Order of Merit (money list), and winning the World Match Play Championship a record seven times.

Growing up in Lambton, Germiston, South Africa, Els played rugby, cricket, tennis and, starting at age 8, golf.

Els won the South African Amateur a few months after his 17th birthday, becoming the youngest-ever winner of that event, breaking the record which had been held since 1935 by Bobby Locke.

In 1989, Els won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship and turned professional the same year.

In 1996, Els won his third straight World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, defeating Vijay Singh in the final 3 & 2.

Els nearly won the World Match Play Championship for a fourth consecutive year, but lost to Vijay Singh in the final.

In 2001 Els failed to win a US PGA tour event for the first time since 1994 although he ended the year with nine second-place finishes.

2002 was arguably Els's best year, which started with a win at the Heineken Classic at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club.

Els overcame a four-man playoff to take home the famous Claret Jug trophy for the first time, also quieting his critics about his mental toughness.

The South African also won his fourth World Match Play title, along with his third Nedbank Challenge in the last four years, dominating a world-class field and winning by 8 shots.

He also performed well in the United States with back to back victories at the Mercedes Championship – where he set the all-time PGA Tour 72-hole record for most strokes under par at 31 under – and Sony Open and achieved top-20 spots in all four majors, including a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Open and sixth-place finishes at both the Masters and PGA Championship.

Els showed remarkable consistency in the Majors but lost to Phil Mickelson in the Masters when Mickelson birdied the 18th for the title, finished ninth in the U.S. Open after playing in the final group with friend and fellow countryman Retief Goosen and surprisingly lost in a playoff in the Open to the then-unknown Todd Hamilton.

Els ended the major season with a fourth-place finish in the PGA Championship, where a three-putt on the 72nd hole would cost him a place in the playoff.

Despite missing several months of the 2005 season due to the injury, Els won the second event on his return, the Dunhill Championship.

At the start of the 2007 season, Ernie Els laid out a three-year battle plan to challenge Tiger Woods as world number one.

On 2 March 2008, Els won the Honda Classic contested at PGA National's Championship Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

Els shot a final round 67 in tough windy conditions, which was enough to give him the win by one stroke over Luke Donald.

Els finally did break his winless streak by capturing the WGC-CA Championship at Doral in 2010, winning by four strokes over fellow countryman Charl Schwartzel.

[13] Els capped his year by winning the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in October, with a one stroke victory over David Toms, and also capturing the South African Open title by beating Retief Goosen by one shot.

[15] Els started the 2012 season in his home country at the Volvo Golf Champions where he finished in a tie for second place after he and Retief Goosen lost out in a playoff to Branden Grace.

Ultimately, Els's unsuccessful bids to qualify for the Masters was viewed as the likely end of his competitiveness on the PGA Tour.

[18] Els became the eighth player to win major tournaments in three different decades, joining his countryman Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Billy Casper, Raymond Floyd, John Henry Taylor, and Harry Vardon (Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have since become the ninth and tenth, respectively).

[24] At the 2016 Masters Tournament, Els's putting was again the source of negative publicity when he six-putted from 3 feet on his opening hole.

In January 2020, Els shot 72-65-65 to tie for the lead of his first PGA Tour Champions event, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

In March 2023, Ernie carded a final round 65 to win the Hoag Classic at Newport Beach, California, by a single stroke.

In 2008, after Els started to display an "Autism Speaks" logo on his golf bag it was announced that their then five-year-old son was autistic.

However, they also split time between South Africa and their family home in Jupiter, Florida, in order to get better treatment for Ben's autism.

Courses under construction include: Unlike most of his contemporaries, Els is known for his willingness to participate in tournaments all around the world, having played regularly in European Tour-sanctioned events in Asia, Australasia and his native country of South Africa.

This has caused some friction with the PGA Tour, an organisation that would prefer Els to play more tournaments in the United States.

Note that there is double counting of money earned (and wins) in the majors and World Golf Championships since they became official events on both tours.