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 Pain in the back Defending champion Els limps into Open
Posted: Tuesday June 16, 1998 08:10 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Ernie Els shifted in his chair and gently rubbed the lower part of his back with his left hand, as if he were trying to push something into place. Suddenly, the question for the man who has won two U.S. Opens in four years was not whether he could win for the second year in a row, but whether he was physically fit to play at all. "It is not the way you really want to feel like playing in a major tournament," Els said Tuesday at The Olympic Club. "But I am defending here this week." Els, who withdrew from the Buick Classic last week because of his back, is working with the same therapist who helps Fred Couples and Davis Love III. "It is still a day-to-day thing," Els said. "I can't, for one thing, sit down too long." He also cannot practice as much as he would like and the kind of standing around that is common in the usually slow first two rounds of a U.S. Open tends to make the back stiffen. There is, however, reason to believe that Els might be fit by the time he has to tee it up in Thursday's first round. A week ago Els could barely swing through the ball. That's not a problem now, but if there is any kind of layout that it not good for someone with a bad back, it is a U.S. Open venue. He will have to play a golf course with typical U.S. Open rough that is not only more than 6-inches high but also very thick because of the unusually heavy El Nino rain this year. "This rough is the worst rough, most difficult rough, that I have seen in the U.S. Open, I think ever," said Tom Watson, who has played in the Open 26 times. Els is one of several players coming into the Open with back problems. Couples, who has won twice this year and has to be considered a favorite, has had a problem with his back for years but seems to have stabilized the situation with exercises and a reduced travel schedule. Love, the PGA Championship winner and another top contender here, had his back problem flare up about six weeks ago and, as with most players, it bothers him most when he has to sit for a long time, like in an airplane. Woods, who knows the Olympic course very well from his days at Stanford University, withdrew from the Kemper Open two weeks ago because of a sore back and at the time it was feared that it might be the beginning of a chronic situation. But now he thinks it was more from running too much. "It's fine -- 100 percent," Woods said Tuesday after he played a practice round with Casey Martin and Joel Kribel, two guys who also played college golf at Stanford. While Woods' back was fine on Tuesday, his wallet experienced a little pain. "I was taken for some cash," he said with a smile. "Casey played well. He made some birdies and got in my pocket." Martin, who successfully sued the PGA Tour for the right to ride in a cart because of a circulatory problem in his right leg, won another cart-related fight on Tuesday. The USGA changed its mind and decided to let Martin use a regular cart in the Open instead of the one-man cart it required him to use in the qualifier and in practice rounds here. Martin felt the cart wasn't safe. While Martin will be able to cruise the fairways in the cart of his choice, it will be keeping the ball in the fairway that will likely be the deciding factor when the Open starts on Thursday. Hitting the ball straight will count for a lot this week and playing the wise shot when a fairway is missed will also be a key. "You better use your head coming out of the rough," said Watson, who finished second here in the 1987 U.S. Open. "You better be thinking of your shot after the shot that comes out of the rough," Watson said. "You better be playing that shot as precisely as you would any shot that you really needed to make." Watson said he likes Colin Montgomerie's chances at Olympic, both because he hits a lot of fairways and because his left-to-right game works well on this course. He also thinks Woods' length will work to his advantage at Olympic, even though he will be hitting almost no drivers off the tee because of the many dogleg holes. "He can lay up with a 2-iron on a lot of holes here and still hit it out here with me with my driver," Watson said. Watson also had a word of warning for the kind of patience it will take to win the Open. "I think this year we are going to see over par win the tournament," he said. And if that is the case, a precise ball striker like 48-year-old Tom Watson just might be in the hunt when Sunday comes around.
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