The hard road back for the Big Easy

For a while there, Ernie Els could not have been more removed from the persona that led him to be known as the ‘Big Easy’.

Out of form, out of the world’s top 50 rankings and out of The Masters, deemed unworthy of an invitation by green blazers at Augusta National, it is no wonder the South African felt he was the punchline to a cruel golfing joke.

So how did Els turn things around to the point where he was crowned British Open champion on Sunday night, succeeding another 42-year-old in Darren Clarke in possession of the Claret Jug a full decade on from his third and most recent major victory?

Given the way Els was sinking putts at Royal Lytham & St Annes during that final-round 68, it is amazing to think as recently as four months ago he was a spent force with the putter.

Yet he sank a nerveless birdie putt from 15 feet at the 72nd hole of a major to send the roars of the crowd ringing back to tournament leader Adam Scott and compound the quickly unravelling Australian’s own woes.

Scott’s implosion paved the way for Els’s triumph and whether you believe one golfer threw it away or another won it his way, the South African deserved the last laugh.

“In March I looked like an absolute fool,” Els said.

“People were laughing at me and making jokes about me and really hitting me low, saying I’m done and I should hang it up.

“So to come through and make a putt like that [at the 18th] and make pressure putts on the back nine, that was the whole goal.”

For Els, the transformation was a victory for the power of positive thinking, getting his head in the right place and waiting for his game to fall obediently into step behind it. There were signs that things were coming around when he secured a tie for seventh in the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, and he moved closer still to his objective when he threatened to crash the leaderboard at San Francisco’s Olympic Club last month in the US Open, only to finish tied for ninth.

Royal Lytham, where he had finished second in 1996 behind Tom Lehman, and third behind David Duval in 2001, was clearly the ideal platform to complete the makeover.

“It’s amazing, this game,” he said on Sunday night. “You have a positive feel, you give yourself positive vibes, sometimes positive things happen.

“And I think I’ve been in such a negative mode for a while, and now I’m starting to feel more positive, obviously things happen, especially on the back nine where I haven’t really done the job.

“Especially at the US Open, I had an outside chance and didn’t quite capitalise. To have hit the shots that I did on that back nine, I don’t think I missed a shot. I mean, the 16th, I went for the green, I pushed that, but the chip shot was good. I really hit the shots I needed to hit.

“And obviously, Lytham, I feel comfortable here. When you feel comfortable on the course, you can hit the shots, also. And I had a lot of help from the crowd.”

The cheers around Lytham’s 18th green as he sunk that final putt were validation of Els’ true place in the game and for the man himself, confirmation that he was once again the Big Easy.

“That’s easier said than done, isn’t it? This is a tough game we play. It’s a physical game. It’s a mental game. You’ve got to have your wits with you, otherwise you have a missing link and it doesn’t quite all come together.

“So to play as long as I have, for 23 years now as a professional, you’re bound to go through every emotion and most of the things happen to you.

“As I said before, I’ve done what Adam has done before. Just about everything that can happen in the game of golf, I’ve gone through.

“So to come through all that and sit here with the Claret Jug is crazy. And it comes from a good attitude, being a bit more relaxed and believing in yourself.”