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THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2005

Ernie Els

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Ernie Els, thank you for joining us for a few minutes here. Start with some opening comments. You got a chance to play about seven and a half holes out there. Would you talk about the golf course.

ERNIE ELS: Well, it's wet, and the rough is up, like it normally is. It is well set up, but it's wet. So that makes it different. We all know what it's like when it's really firm. It's different this year, and I don't think it's going to firm up at all. So the guy that's hitting it in the fairway, and I may sound like a broken record, but that's what it's going to be like. You have to hit it in the fairway and take your chances from there.

JOEL SCHUCHMANN: Talk about the state of your game. You've won two events on the European Tour so far this year and played well in the PGA TOUR. Talk about the state of your game.

ERNIE ELS: Well, I didn't have a great time on the second round last week. I went 5 or 6 over there on four holes straight, so that wasn't good. But other than that four or five holes, I played okay. I would say over the weekend I played a lot better. The third and fourth round I played good, and I felt really good the way I was swinging the club.

So I just played a couple of holes now, played eight holes now, and I feel like I'm swinging good still. I'm looking forward to a good week, I feel.

Q. How different is this week than last week?

ERNIE ELS: Well, it's very different. Last week it was pretty wet in the fairways, but they had a different setup. The fairways were pretty wide. So you could really hammer your drive in and take your chances here and there. A lot longer course last week. This week you've got to bend it a bit more. You have to play different golf, put it in places where you know you can make pars from. The greens are a lot smaller, so iron play is at much more a premium this week.

All in all, I think it's a little bit of a tougher test this week. You might see a guy shoot 14 , 15 under because of the weather conditions, which is really soft. But overall it's going to be a little different than last week.

Q. Is there a certain type of player that you think this course favors, or does that vary from year to year? You look at the so called Big Four, yourself and Vijay and Tiger and Phil, you have one win among you. Is there something about this course that takes the driver out of your hand?

ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, this golf course, it brings the whole field into play, really. It's not a bomber's golf course. It's a course where you've got to play every shot, really. And you can hit iron shots off some tees, or take a driver, if you feel good about it, get it down there. There's many ways to approach this golf course.

But basically if you're not hitting greens here this week, you're not going to finish in the top 10. And basically with the fairways, it's tough to hit greens. So it puts a premium on accuracy and ball striking this week, and really patience more than anything.

Q. Does that hurt you personally? Has that been the one thing that's kept you from sniffing it down the stretch on Sunday?

ERNIE ELS: Last year I had a good chance but blew out on the final day. It seems like the last couple of years I've had high scores somewhere. I've had a tough day somewhere. And I think it comes back to patience. Maybe I've ran out of patience here in the last couple of years because before that I finished in the top 20 a lot of times, and it seems like the last four years I haven't played very well here. So I think this week I've really got to just be patient, sometimes just throttle back and put the ball in play and play golf, play it like a major.

Q. If I'm correct, this will be the first time since San Diego that the top four in the world are playing in the same course. Is that make it obviously this is a big tournament anyway, but does that make it a little more exciting, give you a little more incentive when you're playing?

ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, I think it's good. I think it's nice that we do get to play together in the same tournaments, every now and again. Obviously we have our own schedules that we like to play, and every now and then we get in the same events, and I think it definitely adds excitement to the tournament.

To us personally, me personally, again, I don't really look at the other guys early in the week. You want to try to get your name on the board and get yourself going, and then by the weekend you might look around and see who's away and take it from there. But I think starting the week it's great for the tournament, great for spectators, and it definitely adds a bit more excitement.

Q. What putter do you have in the bag?

ERNIE ELS: I went with that Never Compromise on Sunday, and I thought it worked pretty nice, and I'll do that again. I might go with that. It's a bit of a change. The shape of the putter is not different from the Scotty that I've been using, but it's a little different feel and a little bit more weight behind the ball. The greens have been a little bit slower, and this putter I can get more speed out of the ball without changing the stroke.

Q. That was maybe the second part of the question. People talk about wanting to keep scores down. Is the best way to lengthen the course or make the greens run about 7 on the stimp?

ERNIE ELS: 7 on the stimp or 15.

Q. Does that throw you off?

ERNIE ELS: It was a little different last week, and I guess the weather was a big factor. But by I think Saturday the greens ran quite nicely, and then Sunday for some reason they were slow again. So I'm not quite sure.

Q. Do you think that was an accident?

ERNIE ELS: I don't know. I can just put it down to maybe bad weather because they haven't been that slow ever there.

Q. You're a guy who has won U.S. Opens, so obviously patience is in you. Why do you think you've had trouble being patient in this particular place? Is there something about this course that you never feel comfortable?

ERNIE ELS: There's a guy called Pete Dye, he designed it. And nothing personal against Pete Dye, but he designed a course that really just really tests you. And as I say, I think in previous years for some reason I was more patient here, and then we want to make birdies. I guess we're a little bit spoiled in some areas. When you have to play away from flags and you miss a shot just by a yard or two and you're dead, I guess it just got to me a little bit in the last couple of years.

But hopefully I've learned from that and I'll take that and learn from it.

But I want to say one more thing. I think we've really got to look at mud balls this week. I played out there today, and I mean, you can hear, it's going to rain again. If we have mud on the ball, there is no way you can control it, period. And on this golf course, which is tough enough already, you hit it in the fairway, you want to have a good lie. And hopefully we can address that. We'll talk to the rules guys and see what we can do, because it's really tough to I mean, if you have mud on the ball, on the right side, we know the ball is going to go the opposite side. But how do you judge that? You've got to practice it on the driving range, maybe, because that's going to happen. And everybody is going to have mud balls this week.

Q. How much did that affect you last week?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, quite a few shots.

Q. Were you surprised?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, a little bit, yeah, because we all knew what the weather forecast was going to be. And there was no placing or not placing, just to clean the ball and drop it. You can drop it, even if you have to put it back in the exact same place, but just to get it clean and get the mud off, it makes a big difference.

Q. Graeme McDowell was talking about, he's never played here, but he feels like he knows the course because he's played a lot of Nintendo and video games. Have you ever played golf video games and played this course in particular?

ERNIE ELS: No, I'm too old for that (laughter). I've been on simulators where I've played Pebble Beach, but I haven't played this one.

Q. I was wondering if you can recall your first impressions of this golf course and how those impressions may have changed over the years?

ERNIE ELS: Well, seems like this course hasn't changed much through all the years. It all depends on what kind of weather we have leading into the tournament. I've seen it very firm here and we all I think 4 under won one year, Lee Janzen. And I think when Duval won, I think it was 3 or 4 under or something. So it's a totally different golf course when it's like that. When it's wet, it's playable.

The look of the place is just amazing. They've got some of the best holes out here that we get on Tour, the prettiest holes and some of the toughest ones. All in all, this is the ultimate in stadium golf. This is probably the original one, and it's really stood the test of time. It's a really good golf course. And if you look at the champions, they've all been great players. It really gets a good champion that wins here.

Q. Indulge me in a Masters question. The par 3 contest, just what do you enjoy playing in that, and would you ever miss a putt on the last hole there?

ERNIE ELS: You know what? I haven't played it the last five years, just for that fact. I get up on Thursday and that's when we enjoy the place. I take my dad up and sometimes some friends and we play 18 or 27 holes and then play on the par 3. But that is just an amazing place. I think one day I'll play the par 3 again. I'm too scared to win it, because I have no chance.

Q. This week and last week have been billed quite a bit as the chase for No. 1 with you and Tiger and Vijay all in it, and plus Phil will get in it. This thing could change hands more times before the summer; is this exciting or is it overplayed?

ERNIE ELS: It's exciting for me because I had this question last week, but I've kind of been around enough, almost a year now, and I haven't quite got in there. I had a really good chance at the British, if I won that, and the PGA and so forth, and even last week, I think I finished 2nd. But that really doesn't play in my mind that much, to be honest with you, but it does make it exciting that you know that you're right there, and any week when it comes off, I might become No. 1. So it makes it really exciting.

But definitely I think for all of us I'll speak for myself, personally, I like to just play to try to win a tournament and do as well as I can, and hopefully the rest will take care of itself. But I'd always love to be No. 1 in this day and age, even if it's for a week (laughter) would be nice.

Q. You're talking about past champions here, Adam Scott won here last year and I'm wondering, he's kind of aspires to be at the level that you and Tiger and those guys are. How far away is he from becoming that level of player? And I'm just wondering what comparisons you might draw between him at his age and you at that age.

ERNIE ELS: Well, I think, first of all, I think Adam's got a great future. He's already done great things, he's won PLAYERS and won some really good tournaments on Tour and around the world. He's obviously got a great golf swing; technically he's as sound as it comes. So saying that, when you have a technically sound golf swing like that and you keep your fitness level up and you keep yourself in good shape, he's going to have a long time out here, should I say. And he's already got that confidence, winning big tournaments.

He's definitely right now the best of the young players, I think him and Sergio. I think him and myself, I mean, if I compare myself, I was a little different. But me at his age, I don't think my swing was as good as his. My short game really helped me out a lot and my rhythm helped me out a lot. But he's got a sound golf swing and he looks like he's hungry to take it far. He's going to be a player for a long time.

Q. How comfortable would you be acquiring No. 1 but losing the tournament to get it?

ERNIE ELS: I don't care. I think what Vijay did last week, to finish 2nd, okay, he didn't win, but he had a hell of a good week. And that's good playing. And again, I think he it's a point system. He was playing to win, wasn't he? He loses, but the point system gets him to No. 1. I don't think he cares, either.

Q. Do you think that being No. 1 right now means more to you than it does Tiger and Vijay and more to Phil than it might to you, just because, A, it's been so long since you've been there?

ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, I think I'm a different player than I was back then. Back then I think I won the U.S. Open, I was No. 1 there for a week or two, but I'm a different player and I think we're all different now. I think we're all playing at a level that we weren't at in those days, in 98. So, yes, it will mean a lot to me. I don't know if it will mean more to me than Vijay or other guys, but it will definitely mean really something to me, something really good.

Q. How many players were at that level when you were No. 1, I think Tiger was No. 1 for a spell how many guys at that level compared to now?

ERNIE ELS: I think Greg Norman was still there, and I think Pricey was still there, Fred Couples was still there. So those guys in their late 30s were still playing great golf.

Q. Toward the top, though, what was the landscape like then, '97, '98, compared to what it is now?

ERNIE ELS: Well, I think it's different, isn't it? I think our records speak for themselves. I've won over 50 tournaments now, and Vijay has won over 30 on Tour, and Tiger I mean, a lot different players than we were back then. So we've got more experience, we've done a lot more things, and so I think we I think the four or five or six players now are really solid players, and maybe it's stronger now than it was back in the late '90s.

Q. Can you explain why No. 1 is so important? I hear athletes in other sports, tennis players will say, I don't really care about being No. 1, I care about winning Wimbledon or the French Open. Is it the fact that there's so many great golfers, it proves you're better than them?

ERNIE ELS: I think in any sport, you obviously want to win majors and you want to win golf tournaments, and ultimately you want to be No. 1 somewhere, some time of your career. That's really saying something, climbing to the top of the mountain kind of thing. We do a lot of work, and there's got to be some goals. My goal has always been to win majors and win tournaments.

And now I've been No. 3 now for a long time, and you want to step it up a little bit. So my goal is still to win golf tournaments. If it brings me to the No. 1 position, it makes it even better.

Q. I know you're all independent contractors, but we talk about the top 4, the top 5. And in that scenario, do you believe where you guys are, you basically drive this train, currently? Do you think you should have a little more say in where this train is going?

ERNIE ELS: You guys, I tell you I'm going to skip that question. You're going to be eating off of this (laughter). I'm going to skip that one.

Q. If you thought another player was using an illegal club, would you go to the player or would you go to the Tour?

ERNIE ELS: That's a good question. I haven't seen it out there. If I do see it, what will I do? I'll probably speak to the player and then I would have to speak to some rules official or something. I think first to the player; I think that would be the right thing to do. Maybe he doesn't know he's using an illegal club, you never know, so find it out from the player first.

Q. There was so much buildup last week with the big 3 playing in a group for those two days. And I'm kind of curious, your reaction when Tiger hit that shot on the first tee. You didn't laugh.

ERNIE ELS: A lot of guys have come up to me and said that my facial expression was quite funny or something, but honestly I haven't seen it. But it's actually it makes you feel good (laughter). The No. 1 player in the world can also make mistakes. We had a good laugh after that. We had a rain delay the first day and we sat together at lunch, myself and Tiger, and we had a good laugh about it.

Q. Who was laughing more?

ERNIE ELS: It was funny (laughter).

End of FastScripts.

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