Putting puts Ernie Els in position to win first PGA Tour event since 2010
BETHESDA, Md. – Ernie Els is in a good place these days.
He’s on the first page of the leaderboard in the Quicken Loans National. He’s at Congressional Country Club, where he is a member and where he won the 1997 U.S. Open. He’s walking the Blue Course with caddie Ricky Roberts, who was on the bag for the win in 1997, with nearly each shared stride bringing back fond memories of the major triumph.
And he’s enjoying spending time with his putter.
Yes, his putter. Back in April, after openly talking about having the yips with his putter, he wanted to break his flat stick in two after he took six putts on the first hole of the Masters and made a quintuple-bogey 9.
After the round where he took 80 strokes he talked about how he couldn’t take the putter back and his lack of confidence had taken over his mind and hands. He was happy with every other club in the bag but devastated by not being able to make a putt from three feet, even two feet.
Hundreds of texts, emails and phone calls soothed the pain. And he fought back any approaching demons rather quickly. By the looks of things this week, Els, 46, whose relaxed ways and smooth swing begat the nickname the Big Easy, has put the Masters nightmare behind him.
“When you play this game long enough, there are a lot of things that will happen to you. And that happened to me,” Els said. “You hit the reset button and you start working on stuff. … You have so many ups, and I’ve had a lot of ups, and you have some downs. I tried to put it behind me, and it isn’t easy, but I enjoy putting now.”
Els, who has 80 putts through 54 holes and ranks seventh in Strokes-Gained putting this week, is two shots behind pacesetter Billy Hurley III after a sparkling 6-under-par 65 on a sunlit Saturday moved him to 13 under. The bogey-free round was Els’ first in 115 rounds.
He will be in the final group with Hurley, who hasn’t won a PGA Tour event. Els, a four-time major champion who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011, hasn’t won a tournament since the 2013 BMW International on the European Tour. His last PGA Tour title came at the 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational. But the winner of 19 PGA Titles and 71 worldwide wins, who is ranked No. 296 in the world, still thinks he has a few more victories in him.
“Yesterday I found a nice swing thought on the 17th hole,” Els said. “I kept that thought in my head last night and thought of it on the range. So that helped.
“And this is one of my favorite places to play. And I have a little bit of confidence, which you have to have here.”
Of course it helps to dunk a shot from 160 yards. On the 12th, Els, with a 9-iron in his hands, took his silky swing and watched the ball land in the hole on the fly, a slam-dunk eagle on the par-4. That helps the good vibes, too.
“The 2 on 12 was unbelievable,” Els said. “It was the perfect yardage. I don’t want to sound cocky saying you’re trying to hold it from back there, but it was a perfect number. And in the air, I didn’t want to talk to the ball, so I told Ricky to talk to it. Just as he said, ‘Be right,’ it landed in the hole.”
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As good as he feels right now – on the grounds, with his swing, with his putter in hand – he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. Els said he has been thinking about winning – it would be his 20th Tour title, which would give him a lifetime exemption on the Tour – but his mind won’t be wondering.
“I’ve thought about it, but away from the golf course,” Els said. “My mind is focused on every shot out here. That’s all I’m thinking about when I’m playing.”