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Low expectations for Els
22/02/2006 11:15 - (SA)
Carlsbad - Ernie Els usually shows up at every tournament expecting to win.
This is not a typical week.
"You check into the hotel and see you're booked for seven nights," Els said Tuesday. "But you know you might be leaving in a day or two. It's exciting for the fans. But you're on edge. And you're on edge the whole round."
Expectations?
"Not enormous," he said with a laugh.
Els speaks from experience. He remembers that first year of the Accenture Match Play Championship, when he was coming off a victory at Riviera and faced Paul Azinger in the first round. Els fell behind, and needing to win the 18th hole to force extra holes, hit his tee shot into the rough and headed for the airport.
A year later, Bob Estes gave him an opening by making bogey on the final hole in the second round. Els then missed his 4-foot par putt and was on his way out the door. Then came another second-round loss, this time to Tom Lehman, after Els blew a 3-up lead at the turn and missed a 4-foot putt to lose on the 20th hole.
The real killer was 2003, the last time the Big Easy graced these soggy fairways. He was 1 up and already in for par when Phil Tataurangi drained a 25-foot birdie putt to send the match into extra holes, winning when the Kiwi stuffed his tee shot into 2 feet.
Els returns after a two-year hiatus and believes he has learned his lesson.
Expect the worst.
"If you look past the first round, you're in trouble," he said. "Don't even look at your bracket, because crazy things happen in match play. You've got to prepare yourself for a tight match no matter what happens."
Let the craziness begin in the most fickle format of the year.
The Match Play Championship begins on Wednesday with Els taking on Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen playing Paul Broadhurst, Vijay Singh against Graeme McDowell and top-seeded Tiger Woods going against Stephen Ames.
By Wednesday afternoon, there will be 32 losers.
There will be no talk of "I played well and didn't get anything out of my round." No one will dare say, "I got off to a slow start, but I kept the damage to a minimum." Or that famous line, "I've just got to stay patient."
Odds are, no one will hear anything from 32 players because they will be too disgusted to say anything.
- AP
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