For one round, Els looks like more than a captain

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Ernie Els played with two guys Thursday – Adam Scott and Kiradech Alphibarnrat -- who dearly hope to be on his International Team this December at the Presidents Cup in Australia.

Given the way Els played in the first round at PGA National, maybe there were three potential players in the group.

Els’ 4-under 66 is his best opening round in his last 37 PGA TOUR starts and leaves him near the top of the leaderboard going into Friday. He had a much better day than his two International hopefuls, as the Aussie Scott shot a 2-over 72 while Thailand’s Aphibarnrat had a birdie-free 75.

The World Golf Hall of Famer from South Africa turns 50 in October, about two months before he captains the International Team at Royal Melbourne. Unlike his U.S. counterpart Tiger Woods, whom Els expects will be a player-captain now that Woods is back into winning form, Els hasn’t been in contention enough the last few years to merit such talk.

Els currently is 94th in the International Presidents Cup standings, but should he win this week, perhaps the chatter would start. When the International Team won its only Presidents Cup in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, Els was 3-1-1 that week. He’s won three Heineken Classics at the course, and in 2004 he shot a 12-under 60 that remains the composite course’s record low.

“The success he had at Royal Melbourne, he can pick himself, the way he’s playing,” fellow South African Charl Schwartzel said Thursday.

But Els told GolfChannel.com after his round that it’s simply “not in the equation.”

“There’s so much to do, especially on my side of the captaincy,” Els explained to GolfChannel.com. “Tiger could be a little bit more comfortable doing it. He’s got a team of guys who have played Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups and who have been around it for many years.

“I can see doing it from their point of view, but, from my point of view, I have a lot of work to do. I have to educate the guys around the golf course, how it sets up, how to play it. There’s a lot of things on my mind. It would be a difficult decision.”

Of course, on top of those protestations, it’ll take more than one good round for the chatter to really crank up. He had just one poor shot – an 8-iron at the par-3 15th that found the water and eventually resulted in a double bogey. “That freaking 15th hole is no good at all on this golf course,” he said. After that, though, he was a bogey-free 4-under on his last 12 holes, with his longest putt on the final nine holes less than 8 feet.

It was 11 years ago when Els won at PGA National. Although the course has undergone a couple of renovations since then, including one that was completed in November, Els thinks it’s actually closer now to the kind of track he won on in 2008.

“The greens are firmer,” Els said. “They’re still very new. I remember back in ’08, the course was very dry and the ball was running and the greens were very firm, and it’s kind of similar now. It’s really important to get the ball in play. I don’t think length is going to be a huge factor this week.”

Els’ last TOUR win was in 2012 at The Open Championship. That was his 19th career win on TOUR, and so he’s now seven years into his quest to get that coveted win No. 20.

Last week at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, it was Dustin Johnson who won for the 20th time on TOUR. Will Els make it two straight weeks of career-defining milestones?

“I’m 49 now, so it’s not going to mean too much, but obviously 20 is a great number,” Els said. “Secretly on TOUR among the players, you know when you win 20, you get some benefits. It’s late in my career, but I’ll take any win now.

“I’m not thinking about it. I’m just thinking about tomorrow’s round and so forth. But it would be magic.”

The bigger magic trick, of course, might be swinging a club instead of driving a golf cart this December in Australia. It seems far-fetched, but a string of 66s and a win or two might force him to reconsider the possibility.