The Big Easy - Laid-back Ernie Els on winning, losing and why golf should be more like rugby - Els comments on his disappointing game, but anticipates a comeback - Interview

Golf Digest, Feb, 2000

Ask most top players for a lengthy series of interviews and the reply is usually: "Talk to my agent." Ask Ernie Els to begin the process, as we did in Germany last spring, and the answer was: "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Let's start next week." And he said it with a big smile.

Els met four times and for more than six hours with Contributing Editor John Huggan, starting at Wentworth, England, during the Volvo PGA Championship in late May. A true international player, Els juggles two tours and three homes: in Orlando, South Africa and at Wentworth. It was there, in a thatched-roof home in the leafy outskirts of London, that Els granted a follow-up interview on the morning of his 30th birthday in October. The final session came in November during the World Golf Championship event at Valderrama.

Once acclaimed as the best young player on the planet after winning two U.S. Opens and more than 20 titles worldwide, Els has lost that status due to outside forces-Woods, Duval and Garcia, to name three-and his own inconsistent play, at least by Els' lofty standards. Marriage and fatherhood also have changed his priorities and diverted Els' focus from the game he's played professionally since 1989. An impressive victory in December in the Million Dollar Challenge in Sun City was the first sign of a revival.

Els' disappointment on the course is always well concealed beneath that amiable, Big Easy appearance. As his close friend Nick Price puts it, "Ernie is so laid back, he's almost horizontal." But beneath that calm surface, the frustration is bubbling.

GOLF DIGEST: How much has the fact that your game slipped over the past year been burning you inside?

Ernie Els: Deeply. It gets me. For a lot of 1999 I wasn't really worried about it, but now everything is in place in my life. I'm very happy, but as a golfer I'm not.

There's no question in my mind that I'll be back at the level I want to be on.

Is that what drives you? It can't be the money anymore, can it?

I hate just going through the motions. A lot of things have changed. I got married. I had a bad back, so I wasn't enjoying my golf. Then Liezl got pregnant and now we have a baby. That's a lot, and a huge change in my life. I need a little bit of time. Then I'll be back.

How good can you be?

Who knows? Tiger has taken things up a little, but I won five tournaments in '94-when I was 24-and I can do that again.

Maybe I'm too hard on myself at the moment. Maybe I'm tired. I just haven't had the desire to get out there and beat balls all day.

I must say that people close to me have gotten a little annoyed. My dad, my mum, my brother especially; close friends, too. They've all been on my case. I've always said that if all the people around you are saying the same thing, one or two of them have to be right. I've been hearing the same thing from maybe seven people, so I have to think they have a point.

Does it annoy you when people think you're not trying?

You should ask my caddie what I'm like when I'm not playing well. People definitely have a misconception about me, because of the way I look on the course. But I've been known to kick a few clubs in my time. Sometimes I feel like screaming, "I'm trying!"

On the other hand, I don't want everyone to see what I'm thinking. That shows weakness. Besides, you really find out what someone is all about when things aren't going so well.

Was there a low point for you during the '99 season?

Missing the cut at the U.S. Open. Pinehurst was perfectly set up for me. You could chip around the greens, everything. Samantha was only a few weeks old then, but I can't blame that. My head just wasn't screwed on right that week for some reason.

My final round at the Masters also took a lot out of me. Shooting 80 when I was three shots behind. Where did that come from? It was like, "What the hell are you doing?"

Are you happy with what you've achieved so far?

I never really think that way. When you're young, you look no further than tomorrow. It's, "What can I do now?" If I look at Sergio and Tiger and Duval, who are all younger than I am, I can see myself when I was their age. All I wanted to do was get out on the course.

Has fatherhood changed you?

I don't think so. It hasn't made me softer at all, or anything like that. I just have to manage my time a little differently. I like to have Liezl and Samantha with me as much as I can, and that's the way it's going to be for the next couple of years at least. We're going to have another child. I think we'll stop at two.

As I get older I can feel myself becoming more like my father. I can also see myself getting stronger with people. I used to let them just walk all over me.

But your image is that of a nice guy.

Yes, and that's nice to have. I wouldn't be comfortable with what, say, Monty [Colin Montgomerie] does on the course or what Seve used to do when he was young. I'm just not like that.

You've come a long way already, from the young lad who left South Africa to play in Europe, to two-time U.S. Open champion.

Although I don't want to change and