Rugby Fan Els Ends Up a Back-seat Passenger

Ernie Els, golfer, multi-millionaire and private jet owner, got a taste of the everyman's life this week and it was not a quadruple bogey at a par-three.

After a mix-up at Johnannesburg airport, when the boarding pass for his first-class flight to Dubai was given to another passenger, Els did what he has not done since 1992 - fly economy.

"They say you have to try everything once," Els said, then went on to explain that his family had taken the private jet back to London, leaving him to catch a commercial flight. "I gave myself half an hour to get a boarding pass. We were watching a rugby game on TV. But when I got to the check-in desk it was closed."

In the end Els, who is competing in this week's Dubai Classic, was rescued by a friend who had a seat on the flight - at the back of the plane, in one of the middle seats in a row of four.

Embarrassed airline staff did offer the 15st, 6ft 4in South African first-class service to which he agreed - but only on condition that the other three people in his row received the same treatment.

"It was good for the mind," he said yesterday. "I'll appreciate the better things in life now."