Els Sticking To Data Over Personality For His Captaincy Wisdom

Even though Ernie Els believed certain pairings were a given based on personalities, his 15th Club-supplied data has said otherwise.

As Ben Everill reports for PGATour.com, the International team’s awful record in this event means Els has to side with the data over his gut.

Els won’t reveal his International pairings until Wednesday afternoon (Tuesday midnight ET) when the five Four-Ball matches are revealed, but he’s not about to waver. Data takes precedent over personality.

“I just have to keep my head down and keep stressing to the team it is about just that -- the team,” Els said. “The guys know where they stand. It’s very clear of what we expect and what we are doing on Thursday and Friday, especially.

“I have changed a little bit here and there where if a guy is not far off and they fit personality-wise, but I am really sticking to my data. We have to try something different. We have to play the guys where the planning points.”

Now we’ll get to see just how much analytics compete on a stage like Royal Melbourne.