Ernie Els makes careless three-putt after hitting man in face with drive: video

Ernie Els had a tough opening day at the 2014 Open Championship.

Ernie Els got off to a shocking start at the 2014 British Open. His drive hit a spectator in the face with his opening drive and then produced a putting display more commonly used by weekend hackers.

Els three-putted from inside two feet and admitted later to being rattled after the opening drive.

“There was blood everywhere,” Els said.

“It was like a bullet coming at him. I obviously felt pretty bad about it. It wasn’t nice. I was trying to hit it left, and should have told the starters to move the people back on the left side, but I didn’t do that.”

Els later tweeted about his rough day at the office and has done his best to help the guy out with some weekend tickets to The Open.

Really tough day today. Just spoke to the gentleman I hit on the 1st and happily he’s fine. Got him some tickets @The_Open this weekend.

— Ernie Els (@TheBig_Easy) July 17, 2014

And his post-round press conference: