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Don't let Els' easy demeanor fool you
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Ernie Els once would simply grin that toothy grin of his and shuffle his size 12s, the awe-shucks coming as naturally as the shock of red hair. It was the Southern in his South African. You were drawn to his boyish charm, the instant laughter and the gentle eyes and though he had won one U.S. Open and then a second, you wondered how bright the fire burned deep inside. Whether he was a prodigy without much passion. But you were wrong. You are seeing more and more now just how wrong, for the eyes squint and the jaw stiffens and, though the grin remains, it is hardened when put on alert. Put him on the spot, ask him a stupid question, bother him with irrelevance, and feel the heat of that fire. Do all of that, or challenge him. Tiger Woods has done that, with great success, this year alone. At the Mercedes, first, in Hawaii, early in the season, when he and the big man went head-to-head in a memorable playoff before Woods won. And then again last month in a much-less-memorable matchup on the final day of the U.S. Open. "Finishing second is nice," Els says, "but nobody wants to be the guy who finished second by 15 shots." And so Thursday morning, Els sat in his hotel room and watched Woods par the first eight holes in the first round of the British Open here before birdieing five of his last 10. A 67 that had everyone, if not yawning, certainly nodding. Yep, uh-huh, told you so.
Els watched that, let it simmer deep within him. Woods was done and gone before Els would tee off and so there was plenty of time for the pot to boil. "I got to thinking," Els admitted late last night, "I'm playing pretty good right now. Let's see how good." And so he went out in some of the most benign conditions in recent British Open memory -- bright blue skies, warm temperatures, just a breath of funky wind that seemed to blow every which way -- and shot a 66 to take the lead by one. Over Tiger. "He may know Pebble Beach," said Els, "but I've played St. Andrews an awful lot over the years and I think, well..." The nice guy was itching to get back to the surface. "What kinda advantage do you think you have here?" "Well, experience here, I guess. We'll see." The grin returned, eager and honest and like days of old. But you knew now that it was stoked by what he had just done. Granted, it was only for one round, one of four. Nobody wins these things on Thursday. But he had watched the gauntlet thrown down early in the day and answered it. Perhaps by throwing one of his own. By all rights, they should go to Sunday afternoon late with it all on the line. As we tried to manipulate once upon a time between Woods and Duval, between Woods and Garcia. There, all the while, was Ernie Els just waiting to be invited to the ball. The invitation arrived months and months ago. The answer may have come Thursday. Jim Huber is an Emmy award-winning journalist for CNN/Sports Illustrated and a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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