Els makes his move

Ernie Els made a quick move early in the final round at the Deutsche Bank Championship today.

The South African, who has been conspicuously quiet of late, showed signs of life with birdies at the first two holes in a testing breeze at the Boston TPC.

He enjoyed a confidence-boosting start, sinking a 20-foot putt at the par-four first, before making a 10-footer at the par-five second.

Els improved to 15 under, two strokes behind Canadian leader Mike Weir, who parred the first hole to retain a one-stroke edge over Colombian Camilo Villegas, as well as Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who chipped in from 20 feet to eagle number two.

Spaniard Sergio Garcia, the only European in realistic contention, parred the first hole and then birdied the second, holing a 15-foot putt from the fringe to join Els two shots off the pace.

The two British players were way out of contention, with Brian Davis dropping three shots in 14 holes to plunge to four under, while Martin Laird finished at three-under 281 after a closing 73.

Conditions were the most demanding of the week, with a moderate breeze drying out the greens and making it more difficult to stop approach shots quickly.

Meanwhile, it seems Paul Casey will not qualify for this week’s BMW Championship, the third of four events in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-off series.

Only the top 70 players are eligible, and Casey cooked his goose by missing the halfway cut on Saturday.

However, he probably will not lose too much sleep over it, after being named as one of Nick Faldo’s two captain’s picks for the Ryder Cup on Sunday.

Unless Casey adds a European Tour event to his schedule, he will go into the Ryder Cup without hitting a competitive shot in nearly three weeks.