By Ed Osmond
LYTHAM ST ANNES, England, July 23 (Reuters) – Just four
months after looking like an “absolute fool” in his own words
with no confidence in his putting, Ernie Els sank a 15-footer
for birdie on the final green that won him the British Open on
Sunday.
The 42-year-old South African completed a final-round 68 at
Lytham to win the Claret Jug by one shot after Australian Adam
Scott bogeyed the last four holes.
“Obviously, in March I looked like an absolute fool,” Els
told reporters. “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.
“When you’ve been where I was, you have no confidence in
putting, you don’t want to have that one coming back. I was
coasting everything up to the hole and wasn’t giving the hole a
scare.”
Since then, Els has completely changed his approach on the
greens.
“It comes from retraining your whole outlook on putting,” he
said. “I just changed the whole thing, mindset, training,
everything. And I was really going from a totally different
angle, which I liked, because I tried everything else.”
Els, 1994 and 1997 U.S. Open champion and British Open
winner at Muirfield 10 years ago, said he had not seriously
considered quitting the game.
“That’s easier said than done, isn’t it?,” he said. “This
game is a tough game we play. It’s a physical game. It’s a
mental game.
Continued…
