Golf

Els, Woods about to throw punches

Their long-awaited, so-called rivalry starts today at Bay Hill.

By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 20, 2003

ORLANDO -- In advance of his much-anticipated showdown with Tiger Woods, Ernie Els decided to get in a little work on a punching bag. The world's best golfers have yet to spar this year in a stroke-play event, but Els had some steam to blow off. No, there wasn't an outline of Woods' face painted on the bag, but ...

"It's just something I've been doing for a while now," Els said, sheepishly.

Unfortunately, he slightly injured his right wrist during his workout a week ago at his home in London.

"I was taking out some frustration on the punching bag, but I'm not a pro," Els said. "So I kind of twisted my wrist a little bit."

It's one of the few shots Els has missed all year.

Which leads to the question: What frustration could there be for him right now?

Els said the wrist is fine, and he heads into today's Bay Hill Invitational on a roll. He won the first two PGA Tour events in Hawaii, added two more victories in Australia on the PGA European Tour, and had two more runner-up finishes, by a single stroke, in Singapore and Dubai.

So in six medal-play events this year, Els has four wins and two seconds. His only failure was a first-round defeat at the Match Play Championship, won by Woods three weeks ago. That's seven tournaments on four continents since the first of January.

And it gave rise to the notion that maybe, just maybe, Els would be the challenger to Woods that has so long been sought.

"I've been playing pretty solidly now for a good six, seven, eight months," said Els, who won the British Open last summer, then added the World Match Play Championship and the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa to close out the year. "Something I like doing now is going out to play. I'm excited about it. I think if I keep this attitude up, why not? I'm feeling good about it."

Els jumped out to a $1.8-million lead on Woods, who missed the first five events of the season due to knee surgery. And Woods noticed. He even caught the final round of one of Els' victories in Australia on the Golf Channel.

"I think he got everybody's attention," Woods said. "I've seen him hit the ball like this before, but I have not seen him roll the ball as consistently day in and day out as he has been. Yes, he's having a lot of opportunities for putts, but you've still got to make them. You're not driving every single par-4 to shoot the scores you shoot."

It didn't take long, however, for the world's No. 1 to make his mark. Woods won his season debut at the Buick Invitational, tied for fifth at the Nissan Open, then won the Match Play Championship. He has passed Els on the PGA Tour money list.

Now Woods is trying to win an unprecedented fourth straight Bay Hill title.

"I like my chances because I like to compete," Woods said. "I've done it (at Bay Hill) three different ways. The first year I won, I hit the ball pretty good. The second year I slopped it all over the place and made absolutely everything (on the greens). Last year I plodded my way along and just played real smart.

"When I'm out there on the golf course, it makes you feel pretty good that you've done it different ways. It's not like I've come out here three straight years hitting it absolutely perfect for 12 straight rounds. I've made my share of mistakes and still been able to win and that definitely brings confidence, even if you're playing well or playing bad."

For all the talk about Woods and Els, the two have barely seen each other this year. The only other tournament they were in at the same time didn't bring them together. Els said he barely saw Woods at the end of the range during the Match Play Championship. Before that, the last tournament they played in together was five months ago at the Tour Championship, where Woods finished seventh and Els 13th.

And here, their tee times are on opposite ends of the draw, with Woods playing early today and late Friday, and Els the opposite.

"Until somebody beats Tiger, I'm not sure there's any rivalry," said Scott Hoch, who won the Ford Championship two weeks ago. "But I think he (Els) is the best of anybody else right now and they really haven't played against each other much lately. It's not a game where you play against each other. You play against everybody else. But both of them have very impressive records this year, they are by far the best two in the game right now."

Both players downplay the rivalry talk because they correctly point out there is more than one player to beat in any tournament.

But Woods admitted "if there's any player in the world that I've competed against more down the stretch in a tournament, it's him. And that's just not on our tour, it's around the world. We've gone at it more times down the stretch than I have with any other player."

Woods has typically come out on top. He won the 2000 U.S. Open and British Open with Els finishing second in both. Els finished sixth to Woods at the 2001 Masters and fifth last year.

A three-time major championship winner to Woods' eight, Els knows that is truly where the matter is to be decided.

"I think my expectations have risen a little bit in the last year or two, and I just feel that if I don't step up now, I probably never will," he said. "I'm at the time of my career where I've got to really go for it or I'm not going to do it at all."

In other words, it's time for Els to take his best shot.

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