Els concedes golf now comes second to son's welfare

Published on Wednesday 9 July 2008 23:10

IN A game which demands such concentration that, as PG Wodehouse once observed, participants can be distracted by "the clamour of the butterflies in an adjacent meadow", it is hardly surprising that Ernie Els should be struggling to reproduce the power and artistry that have made him consistently one of golf's most formidable competitors over the past 15 years.

The big South African tees up this afternoon in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond – a tournament of which he is twice a past winner – in the hope that a return to a cherished venue will help sharpen a focus that seems unquestionably to have been blurred by domestic distress.

In the time since his six-year-old son, Ben, was diagnosed as autistic, Els's form could be described as patchy, certainly when compared with the free-swinging game – a kind of deadly insouciance – that brought him the soubriquet of the Big Easy as well as an Open and two US Open championships.

With victory in the Honda Classic and a respectable top-15 place in the US Open on the PGA Tour this season – and still ranked No6 in the world – Els could hardly be called a back number. But his response yesterday to the question of the effect on his game of off-course concerns was sufficiently ambiguous to suggest that his profession is not as all-consuming as it was.

"Family life is the top priority, as you all know," he said, in allusion to his decision to leave his Wentworth base for America, where Ben will have access to specialist treatment for his condition. "For a long time, golf was absolutely number one, but your priorities change a little bit and that's why we want to spend more time in the US. They have a very good system there for Ben's situation.

"I don't know if I've changed a lot because of Ben. I wouldn't like to think that. It's just what it is and you cope with what you get in life. You never want to show any weakness in your approach to any tournament, so I would say no, it hasn't taken anything away."

Those last comments could be construed as less than convincing, but there seems little doubt that Els's view that he could be revitalised by Loch Lomond is genuine.

"Not having played in the three weeks since the US Open, there is a little rust on my game," he said. "But that has to be balanced by feeling refreshed for the upcoming schedule. We have Loch Lomond, then the Open, a week off, and then the busy schedule on the PGA Tour right through to September.

"This is a place I love, I've had a good run here, I've won twice and I always feel very comfortable coming here. It's a fantastic venue and I hope they keep the Scottish Open here as long as I'm playing. It's partly to do with being in Scotland, where it all started.

"The crowds are knowledgeable, you don't here them screaming and shouting, but they really understand the game. It's always something for me to look forward to."