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U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPJune 12, 2007Ernie ElsOAKMONT, PENNSYLVANIA RAND JERRIS: It's a pleasure to welcome Ernie Els, a two-time U.S. Open Champion, having won in 1994 and 1997. Ernie is playing in his 15th United States Open Championship this week at Oakmont If you could start off with some comments and memories of 1994 and tell us what that victory meant to your career.  ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it's amazing, being back here, 13 years, it's gone quickly so far. But '94 I was 24 years old and coming here. I remember I had a good week the week before. In those days we played Westchester the week before the Open, and I finished second to Lee Janzen there. So I felt good with my game. But I never thought I was even going to have a chance to win. It's amazing what a little bit of talent and a little bit of belief does, and I believed I was going to play well. I didn't think I was going to win. I had a good week, and I remember the third round I played really well, that really set it up. Fourth round was kind of just -- kind of hanging in there. And then obviously in the playoff on a Monday, I mean, you guys know, most of you guys have been here. I was here back in '94, so we all know how warm it was for four days and a playoff and the golf wasn't great in the playoff, but, you know, it was a tough, hard day. It was a great victory. As I say, I was 24, really set me up well obviously for my future and I guess sitting here now, 37 years of age and looking back over the last 13 years, you know, I've had a pretty good career up to now. Obviously that U.S. Open set me up for everything. RAND JERRIS: Obviously the golf course is a little different today than it was in '94. They have taken down a lot of trees which has changed the course aesthetically. But has it really changed the way the course is playing? ERNIE ELS: Not at all. It definitely is a different look, but even in '94, the trees that we had, it was out of play and just basically a tree-lined, wooded golf course. And to come back here now, and I look at it, you know, it's very different. It doesn't affect play. It doesn't play any different, I would say from '94. I've been here since Sunday. The golf course was really soft Sunday afternoon. I hear there was a big storm Friday. I played yesterday afternoon and I'm going to play this afternoon. So I can see the golf course is really firming up, and with the length they have put into the course, with new technology, you know, we are going to basically play the same shots from the tees and same irons into the greens. So I think that they have done a hell of a job, a very good job putting the length in where they need it. They didn't lengthen every hole. Q. You as a player then and now, what's the main difference? ERNIE ELS: I would say 25 pounds maybe. (Laughter). I mean, there's a lot of differences. My swing is a lot different. Actually watching the GOLF CHANNEL the other night when they showed that '94 U.S. Open again last week, it was kind of funny looking at yourself then and where you think you are right now. So I had a little bit of a different hat in those days, you know, just sitting like that (laughter) and a little different hair style. But my swing basically is a little different I would say through the years with Lead and my dad, and I think we've improved that a lot. My putting touch, you know, on the other hand, I made a lot of putts back then and that's why I won in '94. I made a ton of putts from inside 10, 12 feet. But other than that, you know, I feel like obviously more experienced. I feel I've had a couple of hits in my career but I've had some good wins. I would say more -- you know, it's hard to say. I guess I am a better player, but I'd like to make more putts. Q. Two-part question. Did you hit into the church pews bunkers at all when you won in '94, in any of the four rounds. No? ERNIE ELS: No, touch-wood, I didn't. I remember on 3 I was just hitting a 2-iron down the fairway, laying it back. And on 4, I made sure I kept it right. So I didn't do that. On 15, I don't remember the church pews coming into play off the fairway, it was playing a little differently. I didn't, no. Q. Have you dropped a ball in to practice to see what it's like and will you do that before Thursday? ERNIE ELS: Absolutely. That's why we play practice rounds. You hit all kind of different shots, you never know what's going to happen under pressure. We kind of lose it sometimes. So you need to play all kind of different shots, so, yeah, I'll definitely do that. Q. We always hear about how brutal the greens are, but people have been having good weeks on them like you did in '94. What's the key to putting these greens and to playing them well? ERNIE ELS: Well, it starts really from the tee. You've got to get yourself in good position off the tees and then into the greens you've got to -- the better position you have in the fairway, the better you can either attack the flag or the greens or play it safe. The good thing you have to do is really try and keep yourself under the hole. If that's playing away from the flag, you know, try and do that. I remember in '94, I think I was -- I think I was No. 1 either in greens reg or in putting, one of the two. The more greens you hit over here this week, you know, the better you're going to score. And this week, particularly, the rough is unbelievable. So you've really got to -- even if you go with a 3-iron off the tee, make sure you hit the fairway and then try and hit it on the green. This is serious U.S. Open golf here this week. It's at its best. Q. Is this about the hardest golf course you've played, period? ERNIE ELS: No. I would say, you know, length-wise and toughness-wise, I still think Bethpage and Winged Foot, because those two golf courses are so long. You know, with this U.S. Open rough, it was really playing tough. This week, the golf course plays a bit shorter. There's quite a little slope. So as I say, you can play different clubs off the tees. But the greens make up for it. These are the toughest greens we'll ever play in U.S. Open history, or even any other golf tournament we play. With the rough and these greens, this is going to be a very, very tough test. But, you know, at the moment, it's fair. (Laughing). Q. You said you watched the '94 Open on the GOLF CHANNEL. What was that like watching yourself win that tournament, and where does that win rank in your career? ERNIE ELS: Well, I think first of all, I would rank it as the best of any of my wins really. Again, in '93 at Baltusrol, I made the cut on the nose where Lee Janzen, he missed the putt and let me in and I finished seventh and that got me into Oakmont. So '93 also means a lot to me. But Oakmont, obviously the win here, giving me a ten-year exemption, all that stuff, was huge for my career. What was your other bit? Q. What was it like watching yourself? ERNIE ELS: As I say, it was kind of funny. I looked a lot different than maybe I would have thought when I played here. My swing was a lot of different. A lot of things. I think I've improved on a lot of areas. I loved my attitude back then. I seemed to have a really good attitude that week and I loved being here. Q. Wasn't there in the '94 Open a ruling where you got a drop? Could you refresh me on that one? There was a little bit of controversy on that afterwards. ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I guess there was. You know, I think it was the fourth round when I pulled my tee shot way left, and got into some heavy stuff. I just missed where the people were walking and if the ball stopped where the people were walking, we would have had a perfect shot. But it went into the high stuff, and I saw a crane with a camera on it in my line of sight. The rules official with me then, Trey Holland, you guys know him pretty well now, I asked him for a ruling. The actual ruling was the crane could have been moved himself, but he didn't know about it, either. So he gave me a line of sight relief. I dropped the ball where the people were walking and I had basically a perfect shot to the green. Q. What hole was that on? ERNIE ELS: On the first. I still made bogey, though. (Laughter). Q. Do you think it's easier to win this tournament when you're 24 than when you're your age when there are fewer expectations; maybe you don't have the backlog of some memories or whatever? ERNIE ELS: That's a good question, you know, as I said before, when I came here, when I was 24, I didn't give myself too much of a chance. So I kind of just played. I played, I played the course and I just kind of enjoyed the experience. As I said, also, you know, I had a bit of game when I came in here. I had a bit of confidence, and I went with that. You know, before I could notice, I was leading the Open going into Sunday. So, you know, at my career now, I'm looking for more and it's totally a reversal almost. I've won over 60 events since then. I've won another two majors since then. I've had a couple of close misses. So you try and add to your career right now where at 24, you're starting out. So it's kind of, you know, it's a double-sword almost. Q. Could you go a little more over the rough that you were talking about, and have you had any shots yet that you feel were unplayable? ERNIE ELS: No, if you go into the rough here, you're not going to get it to the green. Down 18 yesterday, I hit a drive and it just ran off the fairway into that -- not the high stuff, but the stuff just off the fairway, and from there, I couldn't get it to the green. That's basically what you're going to have. You basically have to miss by 50 yards where the people are walking to try to have a shot and I don't think the guys are going to try to hit 50 yards off-line. Basically you have to keep it in play and hope for the best. Q. In Japan, a 15-year-old boy won on the professional golf tour and everybody is speaking about him right now. Do you have any advice to that kind of young golfer? ERNIE ELS: Young golfers? Q. Yeah, 15 years old boy won on the professional tour in Japan. ERNIE ELS: Is the question I have any advice for young golfers? Q. Yeah. ERNIE ELS: Getting on Tour, coming on Tour. You have to enjoy it. What I always had, I had a hero or a guy that I looked up to and I wanted to be like him or play like him, and you know, just kind of whatever you're dreaming of as a child, you've got to come out here and play like you're in your dream kind of a thing and just try and enjoy it. I mean, it's a lot of hard work and things don't always go your way. But you've just got to hang onto what you believe and what you dream of. Q. You've spoken a few times about the up-and-downs a career can take. Just being back here and reliving some of those emotions and those memories, do you feel like that can give you a spark at this stage in your life and your career? ERNIE ELS: Yeah, absolutely. I've been thinking about it a little bit, you know. I had a nice week off last week. I was up in the Hamptons and I played some golf up there. And then obviously watching the U.S. Open, you know, a lot of good memories come flowing back. I've had a pretty kind of a tough time the last year or two, and you know, I need a bit of a spark, as you say. It's great coming back here. The people have been great here this week. A lot of people have come with their U.S. Open '94 caps and I'm signing it for them. They were here then and are here again; we're all a little bit older. Hopefully that can spark me into something really good. Q. You've had a few aches and pains over the years. Wondering if you've ever messed up a wrist and what it's like playing with something like that when it presumably feels like it could blow with every shot you hit. ERNIE ELS: I've had it all, mate. I've had legs, knees, fingers, wrists, nose, everything. Yeah, I've played with a wrist injury a couple of years ago, it was on the inside here. I almost thought the scaphoid was gone because you can't really see it on the X-ray. It's kind of tough. You've just got to, I don't know, you've just got to go with it basically. Drink a couple of Advils and get it warmed up and get out there. You know, as a sportsman, you know you're going to play with aches and pains. Everybody kind of does that. It's just, you know, you've got to just deal with it and get on with it. I know that you're probably talking about Phil now -- I haven't spoken to him since he's hurt his wrist, but it's quite a deal, you know. Your wrist, your hands, your arms, hitting the ball -- he's a power player. You go at it aggressively, you have to just somehow try and put the pain in the back of your head if you can. I don't know how severe it is. When you're under the gun, you get competitive, you want to hit it the way you always do, and you know, you've just got to try and not think about it basically. Q. To follow up on that, there's courses where you could do that and hide the pain in Florida or whatever, but this is a U.S. Open. It's a little hard to imagine, Phil is kidding about keeping it in the fairway all the same, so that's not easy to do. If hard to imagine coming here with a wrist injury, as opposed to somewhere else? ERNIE ELS: You don't really want to have the injury that he has, and as I say, I don't know how severe it is, at this golf tournament. You can almost get away with it more at the Masters or the British Open. But we all know what the rough is like here. I've been out there now a couple of times, and it's as severe as I have ever seen it. Hopefully for him, he doesn't do much more harm to the hand and you know -- only he will know how the wrist really feels. He's got to go accordingly basically. If it's really bad and you can't perform to where you want to perform, you can't play. It's as simple as that. Q. You talked about being here and bringing back great memories, how would you rate your chances for winning this week? ERNIE ELS: It's pretty good. I've been hitting it pretty well the last couple of weeks. I've made a lot of birdies, you know, but I've also made some incredible ugly numbers, too. But when it's good, it's really good and it seems like when it's bad, it goes really bad. But I've been working hard at it. You know, especially on the putter, and as you can see, I'm sleeping with my putter now. (Laughter) just trying to get a good feel for it. I'm feeling good about it, and as I said, got a lot of support here and just try and feed off that and just play. We've got a tough course, four day asks just got to try and hang in there. Q. Tom Lehman back when he was playing in the final round of U.S. Opens, in the final group year after year said that he thought maybe one of the most important things about playing an Open was having a good attitude. You mentioned attitude a little earlier. Is this -- is having a good attitude and putting disaster behind you more important at this event than anywhere else? ERNIE ELS: Absolutely. I mean, I remember when I played really well in this tournament in the late 90s, that is so true. You've got to just keep moving forward. If you start stalling and thinking about the shots that you just missed and the mistakes you've just made, you're going to kill yourself. You're going to really get on top of yourself. You've just got to move forward. You've got to believe that the whole field is going through what you're going through, and you've just got to keep going. This is a marathon. This is the true -- this is the tournament where it tests everything, mental skills, physical skills, every skill you have in golf. Yeah, a good attitude is half the battle, basically. Q. You said earlier that the look of the course is a little different than from '94, but the way it plays is very similar. Do you feel that that gives you a bit of an advantage over the rest of the field having won a U.S. Open here before? ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I would like to think so. Even on normal Tour events, you go back to tournaments where you've had some success and where you feel comfortable. You normally play good tournaments there, and you know, I'm just honored to be here again, to be honest with you, and it's been 13 years. It's not too often where in major championships you go back to the course where you have either won or done very well. You know, it's taken them 13 years to come back to this venue. So it's wonderful just to be here. Yeah, I would say I'm going to try to play it the same way I did in '94, the same shots off the tees, the same irons into greens. So I've got an idea, yeah. Q. Some of the players said that hitting driver would be better than hitting irons and laying back into greens. Will you employ that aggressive strategy or will you take your chances with longer approaches into the severe greens? ERNIE ELS: As I say, I think the way this golf course is set up, this is the classic U.S. Open setup. If you're going to miss a shot here, whether it's with a 3-wood off the tee into the rough or a driver into the rough, you're not getting to the green with your second shot. So you've got to have a strategy where you feel you can make par from. If you make a birdie, you've got one hell of a bonus, you know. And it depends on conditions. If we have rain, I think I will put the driver in play on quite a few more holes. If it stays the way it is now where the ball is running, you know, I'm going to play conservatively off the tee and get myself in the fairway and take it from there. It's really a second-shot golf course in many ways. But you've got to get yourself in play and then get the right lines into the greens. So the longer hitters, I can't see longer hitters using driver more than 50 percent of the time. Depends on their game, on conditions and when direction. But I'm going to try and get the ball in play and take it from there. RAND JERRIS: Thank you for your time this afternoon. End of FastScripts |
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