Els: More can win at 'short' Muirfield

Ernie Els believes Muirfield's relative shortness will bring more players into the equation when the 131st Open championship begins on Thursday.

But the South African fears his game is not in the kind of shape that would make him one of the leading contenders.

And he admits he will have to raise his game in order to succeed David Duval as Open champion.

"I have to play a lot better," admitted the double US Open winner, who finished well down the field in last week's Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

"I felt my game was really on for the first four or five months of the year, I played really well and won a couple of times (in fact three strokeplay events in a row). I actually won when Tiger was in the field so that counts even more in my book.

"Since the Masters I haven't really gotten back to my best form so it has been difficult for myself to challenge any kind of a field for quite a few weeks now.

"I don't know if I'm a little tired or what it is. I just can't get it together at the moment. It's just not quite there. I tried to get it together last week and it didn't quite work, but hopefully by Thursday I'll get something going."

Muirfield would not appear to be the ideal place to find your game with its knee-high rough surrounding narrow fairways, but at 7,034 yards (par 71) it is comparatively short and will be playable with irons off many tees if it remains calm.

"I think this is a lot wider open than the US Open at Bethpage (a par-70 at 7,214 yards)," he added. "If it's dead-calm, 24 under could win here because you don't need a driver.

"There's a bunch of holes that are difficult into the wind but you've got a lot of very short par-fours downwind where you have a lot more opportunities for birdies than you ever had at Bethpage.

"At Bethpage there were almost no birdie holes it seemed like. I think there will be a lot more players in this one come Sunday."