Fuente: © Southern Africa Tour
http://www.sunshinetour.com/

SOUTHERN AFRICA TOUR: Els looking for form at Winged Foot

/noticias.info/ Ernie Els has played the proverbial role of the forgotten fifth Beatle to perfection lately, but on Thursday there will be no avoiding the spotlight as the world number seven tees it up at the 2006 US Open.

The Big Easy is looking decidedly uneasy these days. Only 14 days ago, Els, who has made 33 consecutive cuts on the PGA Tour, was three-over-par at the Memorial Tournament and in danger of having the string snapped.

His round was interrupted by timely rain and he managed to scrape through, but a dismal 81 in the final round, that included a triple bogey and a pair of double bogeys, saw him tie for 68th.

Els committed to return to Westchester Country Club for the Barclays Classic just prior to last week's deadline, but then withdrew – reason unknown – on the Tuesday before the event.

Els, who has been a PGA Tour victory for more than 18 months, is desperate to rediscover the winning habit this week’s US Open at Winged Foot.

Since undergoing major knee surgery last July, Els hasn't finished higher than seventh place in 10 events on the PGA Tour this season. Yet, he won the dunhill championship in December 2005 and had back-to-back victories on the European Tour with the Qatar Masters and the Dubai Desert Classic.

While he continues the search for success on the other side of the Atlantic, he has dropped from the so-called Fab Four of Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and countryman, Retief Goosen, who have been topping the charts this season.

But world number seven does seem to hit his best form at the season's biggest events.

And he remains confident ahead of the year's second major at Winged Foot, ranked among the toughest golfing tests in the world.

Els spoke to Melanie Hauser, PGA Tour correspondent ahead of the first round:

"I think it might be a good week for me this week because of the fact that it's the U.S. Open," Els said. "I don't care how good you're playing coming into this week, you're going to miss shots, and missing shots here means something, more so than regular tournaments.

"I think everybody is going to have to scramble and everybody is going to have to keep their heads, so to speak.

"I'd love to have a little more attention because that would mean I'm playing well. I've been in this position before and it's not something you want to go through.

"When you hit good shots and you keep missing birdie putts from makeable range, you get a little frustrated. You want to get your round going, so I lost a little patience there the other day."

Bob Rotella gave him a few things to work on Monday and, well, they're working.

"Bob's given me a couple little exercises just to go through, just to free up the stroke a little bit, to be a little bit more natural with the stroke. Not to make the technical stroke perfect, but making the stroke better and getting the feel back into my putting stroke.

"It's been kind of sporadic at times. It hasn't been really consistent the way I know I can play. Obviously, Memorial, I fell off the bus here on Sunday.

"I love these type of golf courses. As a kid growing up, ... I love watching the U.S. Opens when it was played at golf courses like these, Winged Foot and Oakmont. Tree-lined, old, traditional-like golf courses. It's a wonderful test of golf."

Quotes courtesy of PGATour.com notas_de_prensa_archivo