Ernie Els has a new equipment deal with Titleist, new clothing and new sponsorship. But what makes the South African excited about the season is an old outlook on his golf and his potential.
No more trying to tailor his game to catch Tiger Woods. The Big Easy figures he’s got enough game as it is.
”I got talent myself,” Els said on Wednesday. ”Tiger plays — when he’s on — on a different level. But I feel comfortable with myself again and my game. If I’m playing to my ability, I can compete. That’s going to be the test this year.”
The test starts on Thursday with the winners-only Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, one of his favorite spots. Els qualified by winning twice last year on the PGA Tour, both of them important in their own right.
First, he played mistake-free on the back nine at Doral after Woods had narrowed an eight-stroke deficit to one in the final round. Then, Els won his third major championship at Muirfield by overcoming a late stumble to win the first British Open settled in sudden death.
Just like that, he re-emerged as a chief rival to Woods. Phil Mickelson might be No. 2 in the world ranking, but Els was second-best to Woods last year by winning four times in official events, and also capturing the prestigious World Match Play Championship in England.
He finished his year with a $2-million payoff in Sun City, winning by eight strokes. Then again, being second-best to Woods is what got him into this mess.
Els became the first player to finish second in three consecutive majors in 2000, and the last two were to Woods by a combined 23 strokes.
”Tiger went on a streak there which I don’t know if we’ll ever see again,” Els said. ”Everything he did was unbelievable.
Unfortunately for me, I was just caught up in that whirlwind of his.”
That year began at Kapalua, where Woods and Els staged a duel that still ranks among the best ever for non-majors. There were seven lead changes in the final round, both players made eagle on the last hole to force a playoff, both made birdie on the first extra holes, and Woods finally ended it with a 12-metre birdie putt.
It should have been enough to remind Els that he could hand with Woods, except that Woods kept getting better and Els kept finishing behind him — by five strokes at the Memorial, 15 strokes in the US Open at Pebble Beach, eight strokes at the British Open.
”I think the Pebble Beach thing was the one that got me a little bit,” he said. ”Winning a major by 15 shots, that tells you something. He just totally blew us out of the water. I think after that, I was trying different things. Hopefully, I won’t do that again.”
Els tried so hard to play a game with which he’s not familiar, such as attacking pins with perilous consequences, that he was in a funk the first six months of 2001 and finished the year without a PGA Tour victory for the first time since 1994.
”I think I eventually, mentally got stable again, my own little battle,” he said. ”Instead of trying to improve things, doing things out of the ordinary, trying to chase down Tiger, I just thought, ‘Play my game, see where it goes.”’
Els will find out this year, although he’ll have to wait a few months to see how his results stack up to Woods. Woods had knee surgery last month and will miss at least the first five weeks of the season. Mickelson chose not to play at Kapalua for the second straight year, leaving Els, defending champion Sergio Garcia of Spain and Fiji’s Vijay Singh as the top players this week.
The 36-man field is littered with players not many people know, half of them winners on the PGA Tour for the first time. One of them is Chris Riley, one of Woods’ best friends from their junior golf days.
Riley won the Reno-Tahoe Open to qualify for the Mercedes, and hanging out in Hawaii for the first two weeks of the year caps off a remarkable month.
He got married three weeks ago in New Orleans, then got his invitation to the Masters around Christmas. The next treat would be another victory, especially against a field of PGA Tour winners. Riley thinks his Reno-Tahoe victory carries an asterisk because it was played opposite the World Golf Championship at Sahalee.
”Tiger teases me. He says, ‘It’s not a win until I’m in the field.’ And he’s not here this week,” Riley said.
No, but Els is. And that doesn’t make it any easier. – Sapa-AP