We may need to give Els an extension on his 3-year plan
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
NORTON, Mass. -- It has been nearly 1,000 days since he made that bold proclamation following a win in his country's national championship in December of 2006. Nearly 1,000 days since Ernie Els went public with his three-year plan to rededicate himself to golf and challenge Tiger Woods as the world's top-ranked player.
It hasn't happened, of course. Since the start of the 2007 season, Tiger Woods has won 16 PGA TOUR events (two majors) in 36 starts while Els has won just once in 48 TOUR starts, last year's The Honda Classic. While Tiger has maintained his stranglehold at No. 1, Els has fallen from fifth to 20th.
The drop hasn't been an easy one for the South African. In March of 2008, he revealed that his son Ben has autism. That summer, he moved his family from England to Florida because the treatment options for Ben were more advanced. "I don't want to make too many excuses," Els said, "but that kind of took a bit of energy." Oh, and he's also thrown himself into helping fund the Autism Center for Excellence, which will include an educational center and a research facility, among other things.
He also changed coaches, breaking up with David Leadbetter, his coach for nearly 20 years, to work with Butch Harmon. Els said it was a tough decision to leave Leadbetter but that he needed "a change in direction."
Meanwhile, he's continued his whirlwind worldwide schedule. Just this week, in fact, he flew from the New York area on Sunday night to a Calloway golf outing north of Toronto on Monday, then to the Bahamas until he arrived here for Thursday's pro-am at the Deutsche Bank Championship. This is a guy who doesn't like slowing down, which probably explains why he came back too soon from surgery on his left knee that he injured while sailing during a vacation in 2005.
"After he came off that knee surgery, it takes time," said Woods, who knows a thing or two about rehabbing from such things. "Ernie is not a big worker physically, and that's one of the things that you have to do with an ACL repair is you've got to really do a lot of work. I feel pretty good with what I've done, and I think Ernie, he could have worked a little bit harder."
And about Els' three-year plan? He hasn't given it much thought lately. Things happen, situations change, unexpected battles crop up. Shifts in focus, if you will. While Tiger has gotten better, Els has just gotten older.
But perhaps the Ernie of old is ready to return. Last week's tie for second at The Barclays not only was his best finish of the year, it's the best indication yet that Els has found something in his game and may be on the verge of rejoining the world's top-10 players.
"I want to play better. I don't want to be struggling like I did," Els said. "There's no worse feeling in the world than to play at a certain level and then drop off, knowing you can do a lot better and you're not there. It's been quite frustrating."
Especially when it comes to winning tournaments. He's made 30 consecutive starts on TOUR without a win, and last year's Honda Classic victory is the only one he's had since the start of the 2005 season.
Not that he hasn't been close at times. In February, he reached the quarterfinals of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, and in June he tied for eighth at the Memorial. But two weeks later, he missed the cut at the U.S. Open. Els considers that his low point, saying he didn't feel very positive about his game.
But he re-energized prior to the British Open, an event that usually agrees with him; one of his three major wins came in 2002 at Muirfield. Despite a poor putting performance, he tied for eighth at Turnberry. He could sense good things on the horizon.
Of course, the moment when a player turns around a season is not something he can generally predict. And it may not immediately produce a victory. It could be a tweak to your game, a slight adjustment.
For Els, it was finding a successful rhythm to his golf swing in which he pauses at the top of his backswing. It was also changing putters. Thanks to the suggestion from longtime caddie Ricci Roberts, Els added length to his previous 35-inch model, which allowed him to eliminate the hunch in his shoulders and straighten his back. He used his longer putter for the first time last week at Liberty National and it paid immediate dividends -- his 1.591 putting average was his lowest since the 2007 Nissan Open.
"My putting stats have been awful all year," Els said, "so it was just nice to make some putts. ... I felt my hands were a lot more relaxed. I wasn't as hunched over -- and tight in the shoulders. I felt a bit looser and the blade can release a little bit better."
Perhaps with his renewed confidence and momentum, Els will be this year's Vijay Singh, a veteran guy who awakes in the Playoffs. Singh, of course, used the springboard of his pre-Playoffs win at Firestone to claim the first two Playoffs events last year en route to winning the FedExCup title.
Els comes to TPC Boston with good vibes, having finished tied for third last season in his only start at this course. He also comes here hungry. And he seems revitalized in the Playoffs.
"We all know he's got the talent," Woods said. "We've seen it. It's just a matter of him getting the confidence in what he's doing."
There's also a sense of urgency. Next month, Els turns 40. He no longer has the luxury of time. If he wants to break that drought and win again, it will likely need to be sooner rather than later.
"I'd love to win a tournament before the end of the year," Els said. "But at least I'm moving in the right direction. It feels like things are coming around nicely."
And about that three-year plan?
"Hey, if I can keep playing the way I did last week," he joked, "maybe the three-year plan can be revived."
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