THURSDAY, 11.30AM:
ERNIE ELS will have to contend not only with a persistent back problem in the US Open, but with what veteran Tom Watson describes as the worst, most difficult rough he has ever seen in the tournament.
“It’s tight, it’s tough and you need a lot of patience,” says Els himself, who won the US Open in 1994 and 1997.
The tournament begins on Thursday at the Olympic Club’s Lake Course in San Francisco, and Els must watch that he does not aggravate the spasms that forced him out of the PGA Tour event at Westchester, New York, after only nine holes. He has been receiving treatment from Tom Boers, who treats both Davis Love and Fred Couples, and seems to be improved.
“Today I could feel it, but the pain was a lot less,” he said after a practice round on Tuesday.
He does not consider boy-wonder Tiger Woods to be much of a threat, pointing out that Woods’s game hangs off his length from the tee, whereas the tightness of this year’s course puts a premium on accuracy.
Els will be playing the first two rounds with the United States’ Justin Leonard and US Amateur Champion Matt Kuchar.