Familiar things leading Els back to once-familiar place
Ernie Els must be a tad superstitious.
Even that might be a slight stretch, but suffice to say that he is a creature of habit and isn’t one to needlessly mess with what doesn’t need fixing.
This week’s CA Championship presents multiple cases in point.
For one, Els always stays in the same hotel room at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, a place where, in 2002, he held off a spirited rally from Tiger Woods to win the title. After the first round this year, Els enjoyed a fine meal at a local eatery and said Friday he might head back for seconds.
“Oh yeah,” Els laughed. “Good wine, good steak, that’s how we oil it.”
After a brief detour last week, his swing again looks as lubed as ever, too.
The 40-year-old shot a 6-under 66 in the second round on the Blue Monster to claim a one-shot lead over Robert Allenby, marking the third time in six seasons that the Big Easy has held the 36-hole lead in a PGA Tour event.
Then again, Els has only won one tournament in the States in that span, which is why he’s been busting his backside lately trying to recapture the form that made him one of the most formidable players of the past two decades.
Playing near his Jupiter home, Ernie Els has a 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour for only the third time in six years. (AP) Els’ agent, Chubby Chandler, said he’d never seen any of the players in his stable work harder than has Els over the past few months as the former world No. 1 tries to stay relevant in the meaningful events. The past five days were a succinct synopsis.
After a sloppy T67 finish last week at the Honda Classic, where he won his last PGA Tour event in 2008, Els realized that he had placed the ball a fraction too far forward in his stance. Monday, he played in a member-guest event at storied Seminole Golf Club, then adjourned to the Bear’s Club, the Jack Nicklaus-designed course near Els’ home in Jupiter, to hit more balls.
Tuesday morning, he was back at the Bear’s Club for more work, then drove 90 minutes to Doral, where he and longtime sidekick and caddie Ricci Roberts hit balls for two hours, then played nine holes. They were at the course until close to 7 p.m.
“Oh yeah, he’s grinding,” Roberts said. Els and by the way, before he played the first round, he was spotted in the Doral gym working out.
“I feel like I’m close and I don’t want to let it go,” he said.
He was within reach of glory at a couple of majors last year, finishing T8 at the British Open and T6 at the PGA Championship a month later. The 2010 major sites already have him salivating.
He finished second at Pebble Beach the last time it hosted the U.S. Open in 2000, has twice finished second at the Dunhill Links European Tour at British Open site St. Andrews, and in the lone instance Whistling Straits hosted the PGA six years ago, Els three-jacked the last green to miss a three-man playoff by one stroke.
“Even though I haven’t been totally on the form I want to be, I’ve kind of had some good finishes in majors for some reason the last couple of years,” he said. “I’ve actually had a couple of chances. But yeah, it gives you a bit of hope.
“For some reason, I feel really good mentally this year. I feel a little bit more fresh than I have been. I feel like, you know, I’m up for it a little bit more this year, I’m a bit more excited about my whole game. My putting is coming around, my short game is coming around, so I’ve got a lot more hope than I’ve had maybe in the last couple of years.”
Els, who moved to nearby Jupiter a year ago, has had some luck in South Florida already. In addition to the Doral win, his 2008 Honda Classic title is his lone victory on the PGA Tour since 2004. The home-cooking thing might be key to his steady start to 2010, which includes three top 12 finishes in four stroke-play starts. Els promised his wife this year that he would play less often overseas and concentrate on the U.S. tour. He skipped the Middle East portion of the European Tour schedule, in fact.
“I felt a bit more grounded,” he said.
That’s not a joke about his past air travel, which would make most mortals wince.
“[My schedule's] a little bit more of what I want to do,” he said, “and not what everybody else wants me to do.”
He’s doing his own thing on the instructional front, too. He worked for years with David Leadbetter, then switched to Butch Harmon two years ago. But midway through 2009, he stopped working with the latter. So after last week’s disappointment, he had to diagnose his own swing ailments.
He moved the ball fractionally back in his own stance.
“Basically, when I went to go see Butch two years ago, I was in the same situation,” Els said. “Ball position out of whack, my swing all over the place. So it was actually kind of fun to work it out myself. After playing professional golf now for 20 years, you know, you should kind of figure your own swing out by now.”
On the mojo front, those swing flaws are habits he would love to break. Sometimes it’s the smallest things.
“I guess,” he laughed, “we are not that different from you guys.”
Knock on wood.
