Ernie Els is (over)due for a win

It is Monday morning and I’ve just got time to post this week’s website report before I head off to the airport to catch my flight over to Charlotte in North Carolina for the Wachovia Championship. This past week since I got back from Shanghai has been fairly productive; the weather has been great here in London and I was able to work hard on my golf game. That was obviously my main focus. My putting took up a lot of my attentions. I wanted to get down to some work and see if I could find something on the greens; you know, just a little thought or a feeling to help my stroke click. There’s not much wrong. I think basically once I start seeing the ball going in the hole, it’ll be fine. In some ways it’s a confidence thing, really.

The rest of my game is honestly in good shape. I heard from a friend last week that the great teacher John Jacobs had seen me play recently and he thought I was swinging the club better than I have for many years, which is good to hear. And as I said, it feels that way, too. I mean, I’m hitting the ball great. ***

[Quail Hollow is] a tough test. It’s almost 7,500 yards and the fairways aren’t that wide, so you need distance and accuracy off the tee, to give yourself a decent shot at the flags. Last year the rough was high. If it’s like that again you’re going to have to be hitting your ball on the short stuff to score well. I mean, with the greens the way they are, with a lot of undulations, slopes and run-offs, you don’t want to be coming in from the rough too often.

As I was saying earlier in this report, my game is in better shape now than it was this time last year. Back then, I was making way more mistakes; basically, playing well for 15 holes and then ‘falling off the bus’ as I sometimes say! My game now is a little more consistent. It’s not quite where I want to be, but it’s very close. I’m playing well enough to win; I just need my putter to behave. (More here)