u00a0Ernie Els, back as Open champion, remembered his nine-year-old autistic son at Royal Lytham late on Sunday night. <img alt="" src="/imagedata/2012/jul/Els.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 775px; " /> My boy: British Open champion Ernie Els watches his autistic son Ben imitate him in Florida last year. Pic/AFP Els spoke with the Claret Jug alongside him while arrangements were being made for a helicopter flight back to London to see his family &mdash; a big change from 12 days earlier when he flew on Easyjet to the Scottish Open. &ldquo;I made a lot of putts today with Ben in mind because I know Ben&rsquo;s watching,&rdquo; the 42-year-old South African said. &ldquo;He loves when I hit golf balls &mdash; he&rsquo;s always there. He comes with me. He loves the flight of the ball and the sound. &ldquo;I know he was watching today. He gets really excited and I wanted to keep him excited today, so I made a lot of putts for him.u00a0Since revealing Ben&rsquo;s condition four years ago the Els family have put all their energies into fund-raising and are hoping to open a multi-million pound centre in Florida soon. Els also paid tribute to South African leader Nelson Mandela: &ldquo;If I win, I told myself, I&rsquo;d better thank President Mandela because I grew up in the era of the apartheid and then changing into the democratic era President Mandela was right there.&rdquo;

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Ernie says his autistic son   Ben was on his mind while   he worked his way to   victory at Royal Lytham

Son Ben was in mind while putting: Ernie Els

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Son Ben was in mind while putting: Ernie Els

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