Els just hoping to have ‘a really good week’

FORMER major champions always get a special welcome on their return to the courses they once reigned over but Ernie Els is desperate for his fellow members at Congressional Country Club to help him ignite the sort of form that helped him win his second US Open back in 1997.

A year after being in with a shout of a third title at the midway point in a stellar year for the South African, 41-year-old Els is back at the bottom of a steep hill in terms of his form and confidence.

Not the ideal way to revisit the scene of past glories, when Els came home with five straight pars en route to a final-round 69 on a steamy afternoon in Maryland as his rivals Colin Montgomerie, Jeff Maggert and 54-hole leader Tom Lehman slipped up.