SONY OPEN IN HAWAII

January 17, 2004

Ernie Els

JOHN BUSH: Ernie, thanks for coming by. A 4-under par 66 today and just one shot out of the lead going into tomorrow. Just some quick comments on your round today.

ERNIE ELS: Well, I missed a couple of fairways, but I felt I played pretty solid all day. I didn't hit into too much big stuff. I recovered pretty well. I putted nicely. It just wasn't as neat a round as yesterday morning's round, but I felt it was pretty solid and obviously looking forward to tomorrow. A few players in there with a chance obviously and so far, so good.

Q. You were two shots back last year at this particular point and now you're only one shot back, what was your -- what were you thinking back then, what are you thinking now, are you in the same mental frame of mind that you were back then a year ago?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I think so. I think I've played myself into contention, and I've really kind of put my head down and started grinding a bit this week, especially today. So I think today is a hard working round. I'm glad with the progress I've made through this week so far.

So, yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. Obviously, there's a lot of golf left and a lot of good players right there. But I've got a chance and I've got to go and try and take my chance when I get it.

Q. You experimented yesterday with a couple of things. You were working something different with your putting, something different with your swing, how has that experiment been today? Was it not as successful as yesterday?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I think it was good. I made a couple of bad swings on the front nine with a driver. I hit a couple of them left, but as I said, I recovered well to make pars.

The putting has been pretty good since yesterday afternoon. Yesterday, the second nine, I thought about hitting some good putts in. I continued doing that today. On the back nine, I didn't give myself those same opportunities. I was a little bit further away because I missed some fairways.

Everything is feeling pretty solid. I know that I can hit it a bit better tomorrow so that's what I want to try and do.

Q. What about the conditions? Do you kind of hope they say like this or would you like to see the wind kick up a little bit?

ERNIE ELS: I'd like to see some wind but it doesn't seem like it's going to blow this week. That's the only defense this golf course has got is the wind and the rough. The rough is up more than last year. But the wind has not blown, so that's why you've got quite a few guys bunched.

But, who knows. Maybe it blows 15, 20 tomorrow. That will really make it interesting. But no sign of it.

Q. Do you feel like you could shoot a round here in the 60s in your sleep here now?

ERNIE ELS: I don't know. I haven't tried that. (Laughter.) I don't think I want to try that.

I know where you're coming from. No, I enjoy the course and it forces you to hit certain shots. I like going around here. In the past it was a bit more difficult to shoot under 70 with the breezes, but this week, you know, it's been quite tame. But you've still got to play good. You have to hit the ball well off the tees and you've got to stay patient. I like that type of golf.

Q. Irrespective of where you're at, at this time last year, the bottom line is, you won the first two tournaments last year, I guess my question is: You're in a position now to win again this year here, last week unfortunately you didn't win, as you look at the game, you look at how you played, is there a particular rhyme or reason why that is, that you can be so good, win the first two last year, and then this year you're in a position to win this same tournament again, but last week, is there any methodology to understanding that?

ERNIE ELS: No. You're just going -- it's tough to answer that one.

I would say that you're going in every week just to try and do your best and play as good as you can. I said to the guys yesterday and the day before, I wasn't quite ready last week, especially with my putter and it showed. You know, I just felt like things were coming around this week for me. I really wanted to compete this week and try and get in contention. So I think it's just a little different mindset maybe this week.

What happened last year, that's history. I can't bring that back. That was a great run. But there's no reason why I can't play the same kind of golf this year again. So that's what you're trying to do.

Q. So you don't have any expectations from last year, just kind of go out and try your best and see what happens?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah. I think you obviously have good memories from the previous time you played well at the golf tournament. You just try and kind of ride that out and have another good week. Sometimes it's left to the gods.

Q. How would you describe the difference in the atmosphere without Michelle playing on the course?

ERNIE ELS: You know, we don't really normally take too much notice of that. You just do your thing. Obviously, with Michelle playing and then playing really well, obviously the tension was different yesterday, especially.

I watched that yesterday afternoon and was trying to root her on, hopefully trying to get her to make the cut. But she played great. She had a lot of attention, deservedly so. She did great. She did better than any other woman has ever done on our tour. She's got a good future ahead of her. She can probably play next year. I think she validated her exemption status in this tournament. It would be great if she could play next year again.

Q. Would you talk about your thought processes on the 18th tee tomorrow, if you're tied or in the lead?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, yesterday and today, really solid drives. But there's no way you're going to hold that fairway if you fly that bunker to the left. I almost went with a 3-wood today.

It depends on the conditions tomorrow. But I might go with a 3-wood tomorrow. If they leave the tees back, I might even go down the 10th hole.

Q. You said, I guess on-air, that Vijay did that, and you talked to him about it, what the advantages are of a much shorter iron in?

ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I mean, that's such a difficult tee shot, you know. And it's a par 5, so you want to try and be aggressive and get there in two shots. So you've got to try and take it over the palm trees and hook it.

First thing you don't want to do is hit into the palm trees right in front of you. So you take it too far right and you go through the fairway. Vijay, he said he went down the left side twice and hit 7-iron in, so that's a totally different shot.

We might look at all of the options tomorrow and see where we are in the tournament and see what we have to do. If it stays like this I'll probably just hit 3-wood 4-iron, 3-wood 3-iron.

JOHN BUSH: Any putts of considerable length today?

ERNIE ELS: No, I pretty much -- I made some good saves, the first two holes for par and made a good putt on 3 from about 20 feet for birdie.

Other than that, I made a good putt on 12 from eight feet for birdie.

14 from about 20 feet.

17, I hit it quite close, about two feet, 7-iron in.

JOHN BUSH: Thank you, Ernie. Good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts.