Martin Dempster: Els' return to winning ways is a fantastic result for golf

Published on Monday 15 March 2010 20:43

THE Big Easy is back. And let's hope he's back to stay. Golf has missed the Ernie Els who returned to form with a vengeance when winning the WGC-CA Championship by four shots over the Blue Monster at Doral on Sunday.

• Ernie Els

To put it bluntly, we've not really seen the 'real' Els for some time now. The man who spent more weeks (759) in the world's top ten than any other player since the rankings started in 1986 hadn't won a Tour event for two years. He'd become someone you still loved to watch due to that silky smooth swing yet, at the same, was frustrating as hell because you just knew his performances could be a damn sight better.

A knee injury sustained on a sailing holiday hampered him for a while. He's also had issues to deal with off the golf course. His son, Ben, has autism and his condition was the reason Els relocated his family's base from Wentworth to West Palm Beach in Florida within the last year. There, they have been able to get a more intensive form of therapy for Ben.

The move, it seems, has also benefited Ernie's golf because the player who shot rounds of 68, 66, 70 and 66 for an impressive 18-under-par winning total at Doral was more like the man we've known since he first stepped into the limelight on these shores when finishing fifth behind Nick Faldo in the 1992 Open at Muirfield.

"This means so much," said Els after becoming only the fifth player to win more than once in the World Golf Championships, joining Tiger Woods, Darren Clarke, Geoff Ogilvy and Phil Mickelson. "I just wanted to prove to myself for once."

Now 40, Els was careful not to get too carried away after sinking the winning putt on Sunday night, admitting he'd probably said some things he regretted after lifting the South African Open title in 2007. Fifth in the world at the time, he revealed a three-year plan to topple Tiger Woods from the top spot but has fallen way short of that target after only managing two wins – the 2007 HSBC World Match Play Championship and the 2008 Honda Classic – since then.

"I said a bit too much the last time I won," Els noted. "I was a bit too cocky. I just want to enjoy this one. This took so much work. A lot of people have said that the older you get, the tougher it becomes to win, and that's very true. I'm 40 years old, and it feels like in my 20s I had so many chances and I didn't quite take them.

"Now that you're older, you don't get as many chances. So this is nice. I'll have a bit more confidence now, I'm sure. But I just want to keep working hard. Just to be back kind of in that group of players who are really performing well: I feel honoured to be back in there." According to wife Liezl, Els showed a "calmness he'd been looking for". That, she admitted, was nice to see and she'll certainly know how much Ernie has suffered over the past couple of years as his game went off the boil. Els insists that wasn't down to a lack of motivation. "I just think that I went about it the wrong way," he reflected. "I was not looking after the smaller things – meaning that just my normal mechanics in the game, the basics.

"It takes strategy. It takes mental strength. It takes patience. And I kind of let that all out of the window and I was just going for the big prize. I was just not quite managing myself correctly. I think I learnt a little bit more about how to win, just doing it myself for once."

Yesterday, Els was hosting the second annual Els for Autism Pro-Am at PGA National in Florida, where Jack Nicklaus, Steve Stricker, Robert Allenby, Adam Scott, Justin Rose and Rory Sabbatini were among those helping raise money for the Els Center of Excellence. He's heading for Bay Hill next week and, of course, The Masters is looming on the horizon.

Three successive missed cuts at Augusta are indicative of the poor form that had blighted Els but delve a bit deeper into the record books and you will see that he's a man well capable of making his presence felt in the season's first major. Between 2000 and 2004, he finished sixth or better on every trip up Magnolia Lane, including two second-place finishes behind Vijay Singh (2000) and Phil Mickelson (2004). No wonder he's licking his lips as he turns his attention to this year's event.

A 63rd professional title has taken Els back into the world's top ten. It also makes him the leading career money-winner on the European Tour again, taking him ahead of Colin Montgomerie with more than 21million. Charl Schwartzel, who produced an outstanding performance to finish second at Doral, may be the new South African star on the world stage but his mentor may not yet be about to move over and let him have all the fun. Golf will definitely be the winner if that is, indeed, the case.

Price of devotion

IF YOU think you pay a lot for your golf in Scotland, then spare a thought for this reader who recently posted a comment on scotsman.com.

"I'm a member at an 18-hole course in Italy, where I have lived for the past 14 years, and my fees this year were 2,600 plus 75 for my Italian Golf Federation card that you need if you want to play in regional/national or even club competitions," he wrote. "Add to that 20 for each club competition you play in and it's astronomical."

You've got to be passionate to pay that sort of money and our chap certainly is, adding: "Golf has cost me a marriage in Scotland and one here in Italy, but I'll go on making sacrifices because I feel it is the one constant I can always rely on in this life."

Capital find, Monty

COLIN Montgomerie has travelled the world as a leading player and also as one of the pre-eminent modern-day course designers. Yet, right on his doorstep, Europe's Ryder Cup captain has just discovered one of golf's hidden gems.

During a visit to Edinburgh last week to promote the Bupa Great Edinburgh Run, Monty popped up to the Braids for the first time in his life and couldn't believe its stunning location high above the Capital.

In the Edinburgh Thistle Golf Club he certainly didn't need to be told about its rich history. "Some famous golfers have played here," he said pointing at a members' honours board bearing the names of former Open champions James Braid and Tommy Armour.