Johannesburg - While the younger South Africans in the field will be expected to produce the strongest challenge at the US Open at Oakmont Country Club starting on Thursday, Ernie Els fancies his chances of rekindling some of the form that won him his first Major title on the same course in 1994.
Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel should have the best hope of flying the South African flag high, but the four-time Major champion can never be discounted.
Els, 46, despite just one top-25 finish on the PGA Tour this season, including a missed cut last week, the two-time US Open champion believes he is not far away from playing well. “You have to maintain your belief and just keep grinding, keep working hard on your game as I am at the moment, because honestly things can click together in the space of one round,” said Els on his website on Tuesday.
“It happened when I won the 1997 US Open; I'd missed the cut at the Kemper Open the week before, but as soon as I arrived at Congressional I started hitting it great and- well, the rest is history. Funnily enough, I'm back at that great old golf course again next week for the Quicken Loans National, which means I get to play both of the venues for my two US Open wins in successive weeks, which is pretty nice!”
Returning to the course which started Els on the path to becoming world number one three years after his win in 1994, was a source of inspiration. “I'd have been looking forward to this week even if I hadn't won here, but there's always going to be an extra buzz for me because of what happened in 1994. That was a while ago now, so I don't mind being reminded of it now and then and, understandably, that's happened quite a lot in the build-up to this week.”
One thing that would not count in favour of Els would be his current form with the putter over the last few years. Looking back Els admitted that victory 22 years ago came courtesy of a phenomenal performance on the greens. “Oakmont was brutal that week and the weather was unbelievably hot. In fact, by Monday we were all very hot and bothered, but I managed to shoot three-over-par on what I thought at the time was the most difficult golf course I'd ever seen. The key to the whole week, though, was my putting. Even to this day I don't think I've ever putted better from inside 8 to 10 feet than I did that whole week.”
Fellow two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, meanwhile, has had a refreshing return to form with two 12th-place finishes in his last two starts on the PGA Tour at the Players Championship in May and last week at the St Jude Classic.
Rounding out the SA challenge will be Thomas Aiken and Jaco van Zyl who will both be making their second appearance at the event. - African News Agency (ANA)