Two tournaments and two top-10 finishes to start the season have buoyed Ernie Els as he switches his focus to the United States in preparation for the Masters at Augusta in April.
The world number four recovered from a horror nine at the 18th in his first round at the inaugural Indian Masters to end tied sixth, signalling that he is finding form but still has some aspects of his game to iron out.
It follows his loss to Tiger Woods at the Dubai Desert Classic on the last hole a week ago, where he ended tied third in his opening tournament of the year.
Els heads to England on Monday for a breather before spending a week in South Africa.
After that, his focus is on the United States in the lead up to Augusta, with his next tournament the Honda Classic at Palm Beach Gardens in Florida on February 28.
Els clearly enjoyed his first event in India, and said he was happy with his iron play but still needed to fine-tune his putting.
”I am having a tough time reading the putts,” he said. ”But my iron play has been good.”
The South African has more than 50 victories to his name, including a haul of three Majors — two US Opens and one British Open. But the last came at Muirfield in 2002.
Now 38 years old, Els said he plans to cut back on his hectic international schedule this year in a bid to win more Majors.
”My schedule this year is designed purely to get the best out of my game and I am really looking forward to a couple of weeks off after this,” he said.
”I’ll go back to London for a week and then to South Africa, and then I will be in Florida and America right through till the US Masters.
”So I will be playing quite a bit of golf in the US and it will be the same around the other Majors out there,” he added.
Before the season began, Els made clear his single biggest goal before he retires is to win the career Grand Slam — all four Majors — at least once.
”It’s important I do everything in my power to make that goal achievable,” he said.
That means after Augusta his schedule will revolve around the British Open on July 17 to 20 at Royal Birkdale, the US Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego on June 12 to 15 and the PGA Championships in Michigan on August 7 to 10.
Els said he is capable of achieving the feat, having worked hard on his fitness to match the likes of Tiger Woods, who has taken the game to a new level.
”When I started playing as a pro 17 or 18 years ago, fitness definitely wasn’t taken too seriously, but I would say in the last 10 years things have changed,” he said. ”Kids coming from college and younger kids are really taking gym seriously and are a lot fitter and stronger than maybe when I started.”
”I don’t want to brag, but I think I’m in better shape now than when I was 27, so I think it really works. Keep your flexibility and your strength and it will really prolong your career,” he added. — AFP
