	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

THE PRESIDENTS CUP

November 15, 2011

Ernie Els

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA

Q. You were on that team in '98. Do you feel more comfortable on any other golf course than this one?
ERNIE ELS: It's nice to be back here. It's a great golf course. They had those greens so fast today and so firm. It's very different golf course than we're used to.
But as you say, we've had some great tournaments here in the past, and, obviously, '98 was a great year for our team. It's obviously really nice to be back.

Q. Is the course too different for that to be what to do now, or was that experience what you expect here?
ERNIE ELS: No, it's great. I know for a fact that winning on a serpent course when it's as tough as this golf course it's always nice to have a little bit of experience on it. So I think our team, if we have any advantage, it's the fact that a lot of our players have played this golf course, and a lot of the guys have won here and done well, so we know how to play it.

Q. Greg has complained that he's not had enough (Inaudible), have you spoken much about how you've been about losing?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it's been tough. I've been playing ever since 1996, and obviously lost quite a few times. We had one tie, and we had one win but quite a few losses. So, yeah, it's hard to take. But it's really a credit to the American team. They are a star quality group of players that have to play great golf to beat them.
In the past obviously we had our weaknesses in the foursomes and I think that's cost us. Because we've always come back in the singles and so we need to get it going on foursomes.

Q. The American's have lost in the foursomes as well in the Ryder Cup but they play it every year and you play it every two years.
ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah, I think that's a factor. They played him. The guys are used to each other they play with each other every year, so they're a little more used to it.
Our team changes quite a bit, and we have to get up and play new pairings a lot of times, and sometimes it doesn't quite work. But we've had a good chat about it, and I think we're ready to go.

Q. What will your memories of '98?
ERNIE ELS: We had a great Sunday.

Q. What do you remember of that?
ERNIE ELS: Well, I went straight to the plane from the casino, but we had a great evening. It was just a great week. We really gelled very well as a team. I remember playing the 18th hole, and watching Shigeki chip in, and that birdie chip in. Some really big shots were pulled off by the team.
I mean, you get the crowd going, and that is really a great factor in our favor. We got the crowd into it early on in our matches and we just rode that wave.

Q. Do you find it hard to believe that was the last win?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, it's crazy. Obviously it's there have been really close ones since then. You know, Dubai in '03 comes to mind. The one after that I didn't play in '05, my knee was done, but that was a close one too.
So there have been close ones, but they've had the upper hand, unfortunately.

Q. What do you like about this team?
ERNIE ELS: I love this team because the Aussie boys are really up for it. A lot of them are really playing good golf, and they know the course really well. So I feel that they really are up for it.
Then the rest of the foreigners, myself, and Retief, we bring in a bit of experience. The Korean boys are also playing really good golf. So they've had great seasons. I just feel we're starting to gel nicely.

Q. (Inaudible)?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, that was nice. I'm not sure how it went down, but it was 68, and it was my best round ever. It was really nice to play it on a classic golf course like this one.

Q. You mentioned the course is a lot different now. In what way do you see it different?
ERNIE ELS: I don't think it's that much different.

Q. I thought you said different.
ERNIE ELS: No, no. I said the difference is the rotation of holes they're certainly different. But you're still playing the same holes or most of them which is a little weird for me, because I remember playing '98 Presidents Cup in the same kind of format as the Heineken in '01. Now it's a little different.
But the course itself plays very similar to what I remember. It's very fast, very firm, and very quick. You've got to be on with your second shots.

Q. What do you think playing well will take?
ERNIE ELS: I think iron shots. A lot of times you have to play away from the hole a little bit, especially when the greens are going fast. You've got to bring your whole game. Get the ball in play off the tee, and your second shot has to be spot on, otherwise you're going to be putting from 40 feet all day. It's going to be a great test of golf.

Q. Ernie, the Europeans lose the Ryder Cup and you seem to hear about it for a few years. Is that the difference between you guys? Is it not as hard to take the loss or is it?
ERNIE ELS: No, it's pretty tough to take. Especially since I've played it so many times and only had two positive results. I almost took it personally last time. We really don't want to keep losing this thing. We want to move it around, change it around, and start winning some and put the pressure on the American's side for once. We feel like we've been under the gun for a while.

Q. Ernie, you're the only one ever involved to that degree in a tie. Are you familiar with what happens here this week if it's tied at the end of regulation?
ERNIE ELS: I think Greg and Freddy should playoff. I'm not sure what's going to happen. I don't think we'll ever have that situation again. I think that was a one-off. The thing that got us was if we tie, they keep the Cup. But we can change that quickly.
We keep the Cup for six months, and they get it for six months. That's not going to happen again. There will be a winner in future Presidents Cups.

Q. What did you tell Charl about playing the course?
ERNIE ELS: It's beautiful. He won the Masters this year. So he's got the perfect ball flight for these greens. He's got it really nice and high, a great short game. But he was a little jet lagged this morning. They had a 14-hour delay on their flight, but he did well.
He's got good lines off the tees now. So he's ready to go. Our whole team's ready to go. We can start tomorrow ready to go, so I'm really fired up.

Q. Would you like to have him in some (Inaudible)?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, whoever you play with, you've got to get on with it. We can't keep huffing on about. I should have played with this guy. I should have played. Whoever you play with, you've got to get on with it. We're professional golfers and we know that we just need to win points. No matter who you play with, you've got to be on your game and play good golf. We're not going to second guess our pairings.

Q. Do you sense a resolve in this team that it's time to stop the loss?
ERNIE ELS: I feel that. I feel that for the guys. I feel Scottie is now reaching his prime. He's really getting into it. Jason Day, he's playing great golf again, Robert Allenby. I mean, we've got a really strong set. Aaron Baddeley is playing well, and this is the foundation of our team this year, and the rest of us have to win some points too.
So I feel with a nice, big, strong Aussie contingent we have, I think we can get the crowd on our side and start winning some points.

Q. Greg said you guys are sick and tired of losing.
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, yeah, we are. I mean and at home. This really feels like a home match because it's quite a fine way out of North America for once, not Canada or anything like that.
We feel like we're on a home base here, and we want to take advantage of that.

Q. Do you feel like it's the best opportunity to match the '98 victory?
ERNIE ELS: Well, yeah. I think the two positive ones were in the Southern hemisphere. Obviously, we've got something going down here, so that gives us almost a really good win. But it was a tie. Obviously, we had a really nice round here, so we've done well down here. We're feeling positive about it.

Q. I know you won't do it that way again, but that pressure in the playoffs and the way you guys went through that, how did that relate to anything that you have been through, winning the majors, and anything like that? Anything comparable?
ERNIE ELS: No. Still today I still think about those putts. I mean, I had to make three of those kind of putts. 18th I had a little knee knocker, and then on the second play it had fallen in. Then obviously the third play as well. Those are probably the biggest putts I've ever made.

Q. (Inaudible)?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, well, we didn't feel that way. We're basically all going to play. So we're just out doing it during that stretch.

Q. What do you enjoy about the team? What inspires you about the team?
ERNIE ELS: Well, it's just really the camaraderie is great. It's not too often when Australians and South Africans actually play together. It's kind of nice. We give each other quite a hard time away from the course, which is great too. Everybody's got a pretty good sense of humor. It's just fun.
I've played these kind of things since I was a junior golfer. Every time you get new guys that are coming to the team and you gel with them and find out more about them as individuals, at the end of the week you're just a lot closer. You have a good friendship.

Q. Did rugby or cricket come up at all?
ERNIE ELS: Yeah, I'm still a little pissed off about the rugby. Cricket made up a little bit, but the rugby still burns a little bit.

Q. It was the first Aussie that you went all out 47 points?
ERNIE ELS: No the boys are quite quiet about that one. But Geoff is a good one. He likes to rub it in. Geoff's a good joker.

Q. You've obviously -- how are you going to be winning the Presidents Cup (Indiscernible)?
ERNIE ELS: Oh, it was a great feeling. Just you feel like you really accomplished something, not just individually, but I mean you took the whole group together and everybody's winning points and feeling the magnitude of the whole thing at the end of it. It's really special.
I was a young man back then. I remember Greg was one of my heros. To play with him on a team event was great. To win on his own soil, and I think Price was there, and my good friend Vijay. So a lot of great memories from that year.
We had a really nice team, and we had great camaraderie let's just say. We had a good thing going that year.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297