Els aims to maintain fine form

OPEN champion Ernie Els has already relinquished his grip on the Claret Jug — but the South African knows a bad week at the Scottish Open is no barrier to getting it back.

Els has loaned the famous trophy to the golf club on the Wentworth estate where he has a home and will have to give it back for good next week when the Open gets underway at Sandwich.

Unless, of course, he repeats his triumph of 12 months ago at Muirfield when he finally added the Open to his two US Open titles after a thrilling initial four-way play-off became a sudden-death battle between him and France's Thomas Levet.

The 33-year-old had virtually written off his Open chances last year after a poor showing the week before at Loch Lomond where he finished in a tie for 50th place. And he will be going all out to avoid a similar performance this week as he tries to maintain his remarkable form on the European Tour this season, with two victories, two seconds and three other top-six finishes in his seven strokeplay events.

"I was really worried going into last year's Open championship," said Els, who also won back-to-back tournaments in America at the start of the year and has a worst finish of joint 38th on either side of the Atlantic.

"We had a press conference on the Tuesday and I said I didn't have much chance, but things changed, that's the game of golf. You find a little key and off you go and that's what happened."

Els enjoyed every minute of being Open champion and although the weather last week put him off making a pre-championship visit to Sandwich, he will be one of the favourites to win again next week.

"I would like to have it all over again," said the world number two, who won the Scottish Open here in 2000. "I would love to go in there and play as good as I can and if it could happen again that would be great."

Els is among a top-quality field assembled for the £2.2m event which offers a first prize of £366,660, but admits it is not ideal preparation for the links golf which awaits on the Kent coast next week. As ever, the Loch Lomond course is fairly soft underfoot and the emphasis will be on accurate iron shots from the generous fairways.

Jose Maria Olazabal's suggestion to move the tournament to a links course the week before the Open met with approval from the players, and Els said: "I said to a couple of guys yesterday it's maybe not the perfect preparation, being quite so soft. But it's a beautiful setting and a very good golf course and an independent tournament.

"You take this for what it is and try to work your behind off to do as well as you can and then go into next week. It's a major and the feeling next week is totally different to this week."

World number eight Phil Mickelson is also in the 156-strong field alongside former US Open champion Retief Goosen, former European number ones Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and last week's winner Phillip Price.

Clarke appeared to have sorted out his putting problems in Ireland only for his normally superb iron play to let him down. "I had 114 putts last week which is the lowest I've had in I don't know how long," said Clarke, whose work with putting guru Harold Swash paid almost instant dividends with a fifth-place finish.

"It was great to start holing some putts and get the feeling of the ball going in again, but then I hit my irons terribly. It is funny how it goes, you get something back and something else goes.

I know I'm on the right line so it is just a case of keeping on doing what I am doing and hopefully the results will follow."