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Easy does it
Els emerges from slump with new sense of focus
Posted: Saturday April 06, 2002 8:23 PM
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Ernie Els chips to the green in last month's Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando, Fla. Els had only one runner-up finish in 2001. Michael Holahan
The Augusta Chronicle |
By David Westin
The Augusta Chronicle
Ernie Els found out in 2001 that winning golf tournaments on the PGA Tour isn't that simple, even if you are loaded with talent.
It was a hard realization for the South African who is nicknamed "the Big Easy" because of his laid-back demeanor.
For seven straight seasons, starting in 1994 - his rookie year - Els won at least one tournament each year. In two of those years, he won the U.S. Open.
"I had some tough, tough breaks in the last year, not winning tournaments," Els said.
He was coming off a banner year in 2000. He won The International and had five runner-up finishes, three of them in major championships.
"I can't push things," Els said. "I think I did that last year a little bit, so I'm surely not going to do it this year.
"It's hard to explain," he said. "When you're out there and you do a lot of work and you feel you should win, but then maybe you're trying a little too hard and playing shots that you shouldn't play. I think that's what I did last year."
He had only one runner-up finish in 2001, but it foreshadowed what would be a return to form in 2002. It came in the season-concluding Tour Championship, where Els lost in a four-way sudden death playoff to Sergio Garcia.
"I worked a lot last year on my game," Els said. "It didn't pay off in the end, but I felt I was playing better at the end of the year. I tried to get that win (in the Tour Championship) to keep my event (winning) streak alive, and I got it to a playoff. I just tried to carry that over and even get better attitude-wise this year."
"He was more determined at the end of last year and the beginning of this year to bounce back," Nick Price said.
In early February, Els won the European Tour's Heineken Classic. A month later, he ended his PGA Tour drought, taking the Genuity Championship. The following week he won the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic.
"Obviously, I've had a pretty good run," Els said. "I have got that win back (on the PGA Tour), so I'm looking forward to a good year now."
No one was more disappointed in his 2001 showing than Els. On the outside he may not seem to be affected, but inside it was a different story.
"I think it's a bit of pent-up frustration coming out," Price said of Els' explosive play this season. "Anytime a golfer is frustrated but he's playing well, it drives him to greater heights. Ernie's going to have a great year. I think he's going to win three or four more times and probably a major in there."
"I'm playing now like I thought I should have been playing all along," Els said. "My time is coming.
"The game of golf is a strange old game," he said. "You get your lows and your highs. I feel like I'm getting to my highs. I feel I have a lot of golf left."
"He has a lot of desire right now and a lot of focus," said Els' instructor, David Leadbetter. "He seems to be playing a level above where he's played the last couple of years."
Els attributes part of his resurgence to working with Belgian sports psychologist Jos Vanstiphout since last July.
It was Vanstiphout who helped Els' fellow countryman Retief Goosen reach the heights that carried him to victory in the 2001 U.S. Open.
"I was getting to the edge of patience, and I needed something to happen," Els said. "(Vanstiphout's) got some good ideas. I just needed a little bit of help from somebody outside of my friends or family and stuff like that. I just needed another outlet, from another perspective."
"(Vanstiphout's) a little guy, and he looks up at Ernie and gets in his face and says, 'C'mon, you've got to believe in yourself now,' which is what everybody else has been trying to get him to do," Leadbetter said.
"I think he's been a very good help," Els said. "He's told me things that sometimes I didn't want to hear, and sometimes he's told me things that I really need to know. He's definitely been a positive influence."
Els has a ways to go to catch Tiger Woods and become the No. 1 player in the world.
"I can't ever get to Tiger's level of intensity, but if we're going to be going at each other for the next 10 years, and I hope we do, I can try to get closer to his level, which I think I am," Els said.
Before he can think of overtaking Woods as the game's top player, Els first must become a serious rival again.
"I think last year his biggest rivalry was with Phil Mickelson," Els said of Woods. "I think the year before it was myself. The year before that was probably David Duval. I figure this year it's me again."
Els, who has finished as a runner-up in tournaments to Woods six times, had the satisfaction of beating him in the Genuity Championship in March.
Els, who had an eight-shot lead after 54 holes, ended up winning by only two over Woods. Els shot 72, and Woods had 66. Els had opened with rounds of 66-67-66.
"The way it turned out may have been a blessing in disguise, the way I hung in there," Els said. "It was not a comfortable feeling, gradually losing that big lead I had. It would have been a bitter pill to swallow had I lost."
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