Ernie Els had more trouble getting to grips with Premier Dr. Brown's medium pace bowling than Port Royal's 'world class' greens during yesterday's Grand Slam Pro-Am.

Els, Premier Brown and West Indies cricketing legend Brian Lara took time out of their round to play an impromptu cricket game on the course's signature 16th hole.

And while Els, a cricketing fanatic, certainly did not disgrace himself at the 'crease', it is fair to say he looked slightly less comfortable with a bat in his hands than he did wielding a driver.

"I haven't played cricket in 24 years or whatever it is," said the South African. "Last time I think I hit a cricket shot was in Jamaica in 1994. At least I made contact.

"The Premier was bowling at me, thank goodness not too fast. I actually hit a couple of shots . . . we had a bit of fun there."

Known as the "Big Easy", Els has been a close friend of Lara for a number of years with the pair sharing a passion for both cricket and golf. Although Els admits he is not as gifted a cricketer as Lara is a golfer.

"I got to know Brian through golf and obviously cricket. When the West Indies toured South Africa we got to know each other," said Els, who was recently voted into golf's Hall of Fame.

"He's a golf freak, I'm a cricket freak. You know, it's easy to keep both of us happy.

"Obviously with golf, he's a lot better player now than he was. He's got a lot more time on his hands now that he's kind of retired. He's got a very good golf game.

"I'd like to try to get him into some of those celebrity tournaments in the US because I think he can do some damage there with his game."

Els, a two-time US Open winner and Open Champion, described Port Royal's greens as world class and was surprised they were in such good condition considering the Island had been hit by Hurricane Igor around 30 days' ago.

"Today was quite a nice day," said the late replacement for Masters champion Phil Mickelson. "I think the greenkeeping staff must get a lot of credit for the golf course. I heard there was a hurricane that came here a couple weeks ago. Obviously it made it tough for them. The green surfaces are really good, world standard. The fairways are great, too. It can be quite a fun course, especially when the wind's not blowing."

At 40, Els is enjoying his golf more than ever and said he was confident he could add to his three majors.

"I feel really fresh. You know, the game is what it is. It will beat you down at times. I've been doing it for such a long time. You're going to have your good weeks and bad weeks. I've had a really wonderful career. I feel like I can still achieve things in this game and I want to achieve things in the game.

"The desire is very much still there. I still feel like I can win majors."

Yesterday's Pro-Am was the first time that David Toms had played Port Royal. The late replacement for the injured British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen, echoed Els' sentiments regarding the public course's well-kept greens.

"My caddie did a good job yesterday walking the golf course, so we didn't go in totally blind," said the former PGA Championship winner.

"I enjoyed the golf course. It's in great shape. The greens are rolling really nice. The rough's not very deep, but you don't really want to be in it. With the greens being fairly firm, it's tough to get the ball close to the pin if you're in the rough. You want to hit the fairway. That will be the premium to score well the next couple of days."